Singapore Dormitory Infections Push Virus Cases Above 5,000

(Bloomberg) --

Coronavirus cases in Singapore soared past the 5,000 mark as authorities detected more infections among foreign workers.

Authorities said an additional 623 cases were confirmed as of noon Friday, bringing the total to 5,050 in the country, according to the health ministry’s statement. The majority of the cases are tied to facilities that house low-wage migrant workers in close quarters.

Since late March, the Southeast Asian nation has seen a surge in local transmissions that’s largely affected foreign workers housed in tightly packed dormitories, further complicating efforts to curb the spread. The government has tightened entry rules, mandated masks, poured billions of dollars into the economy and imposed a weeks-long partial lockdown to contain the outbreak.

Foreign-worker cases now account for more than 60% of all confirmed infections. Imported cases have been cut to zero over the last several days, while daily numbers of community spread have leveled off in the last two weeks.

The latest figures are lower than on Thursday, when 728 additional cases were reported for the largest single-day spike.

The number of cases is expected to rise as authorities conduct more testing within the foreign-worker community. There are more than 200,000 such workers, hailing from across Asia and serving key industries such as construction, who live in dormitories across Singapore.

To arrest the swell in cases, authorities have shifted 7,000 workers employed in essential services such as logistics, transportation and construction -- and who were found to be free of the virus -- to 18 temporary housing facilities. They include vacant public housing units on land meant for redevelopment and floating lodgings commonly used in the marine and offshore industry.

Sports halls in the Singapore Sports Hub, a sporting venue that has played host to the Women’s Tennis Association finals, will be converted as a temporary accommodation to house virus-free workers. The government is also studying using cruise ships to temporarily house foreign workers who have recovered from the coronavirus and tested negative.

The surge in infected workers has also exposed the unsanitary and congested living conditions in those facilities, making social distancing harder to enforce.

Manpower Minister Josephine Teo already has vowed to raise standards of living in dormitories, though each time her ministry attempts to do that, it faces objections from employers due to the accompanying additional costs, she said in a Facebook post.

Doing so is “not only the right thing to do but also in our own interests,” she said. “We should be willing to accept the higher costs that come with higher standards.”

Close to 80% of Singapore’s workers are now conducting business from home as the city-state enters its second week of a partial lockdown, with the closure of schools and most workplaces.

Recently making it mandatory to wear masks outdoors, the government is looking to tighten measures further by paring the remaining 20% of the workforce providing what are deemed essential services such as logistics, transportation, banking and telecommunications.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.