SINGAPORE (May 12): The number of migrant workers testing positive for Covid-19 is likely to “remain high for some time” as aggressive testing is carried out among those living in dormitories, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Gan, who also chairs the Covid-19 multi-ministry taskforce added that this serves to ensure that the workers are healthy and well enough to return to work, when the time comes.
“The taskforce has drawn up a plan to allow migrant workers residing in the dormitories including both the purpose-built dormitories as well as factory-converted dormitories, to be progressively cleared so that they can safely return to work when the time comes,” he stressed.
“Our aim is to make sure that as far as possible, all migrant workers are free of infection before resuming work when the sectors gradually reopen. This will involve a differentiated approach, and a combination of assessment tests and isolation process.”
Presently, about 3,000 migrant workers living in dormitories are tested daily, but the number is slated to increase in the coming weeks as the authorities test all workers to ensure they are infection free, said National Development Minister and co-chair of the Covid-19 multi-ministry taskforce, Lawrence Wong.
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test will be prescribed to detect the presence of infection. Since a PCR test is not able to detect the virus in its incubation stage, a worker who has tested negative for the first time, will be subject to a 14-day isolation period. After this, he will have to record a second negative result before being deemed virus-free.
While extensive, Wong stressed that the system is necessary to “ensure that we are thorough and systematic”.
Meanwhile, serological tests will be prescribed to migrant workers living in dormitories with high infection rates. These tests can detect the presence of antibodies to the virus in an individual’s bloodstream to show if he is infected or immune to the virus.
For now, Wong noted that the number of cases among the migrant workers living in dormitories remains high.
“That's because we are continuing to test many workers, including the ones who are asymptomatic and well, because this is part of our process to clear the dormitories systematically,” he explained.
Drawing reference to the total number of cases among migrant workers, Wong noted that the prevalence rate stands slightly above 6%.
“What is the true underlying prevalence rate, we will not know until we complete the tests,” he said. “If it is low, then maybe it can be cleared faster. But if it is high and then you have people who need to be isolated, quarantined, then it will take more steps.”
For now, Wong said that several workers have been recovering well and are ready for discharge.
Some 20,000 of these workers who have previously tested positive for Covid-19 in Singapore will be discharged from community care facilities by the end of the month, while even more are expected to be discharged in June.
"We are now in a good position to plan forward and ease some of the restrictions, allow more workers to resume work beyond Jun 1, and then gradually take steps to reopen the economy."
However, he also cautioned of a possible resurgence of a spread of the virus.
"The rapid reproduction rate of the virus may be low today, but once more activities were to resume, there may well be more contact and we may see new cases emerging. It has happened in many other countries as well.”
See: Singapore lowers testing capacity after 'false positive case'; herd immunity 'too big a price to pay'
