SINGAPORE (Apr 9): Singapore reported 287 cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, making this the city-state’s largest single day spike so far. It is also more than double the 142 cases recorded the previous day, the multi-ministry task force dealing with the coronavirus said in a press conference on Thursday.
With this, the total number of cases in the republic now stands at 1,910. Of the new cases, 219 are linked to existing clusters, where at least 160 are linked to the S11 Dormitory @ Punggol which was on set as a gazetted isolation location for foreign workers on Sunday.
Another 19 cases have been traced to previous cases, while 46 are currently unlinked, the task force noted. The remaining three of the latest cases are imported.
Breaking down the case count, the task force noted that 314 cases have been discharged from acute care while another 705 have been transferred to a community isolation facilities.
Six have succumbed to the virus, with the latest death being a 32-year old Indian national who passed on after taking a swab test. He was confirmed to have Covid-19 after his passing.
For now, the task force – together with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) have traced several of the newer cases to existing clusters at Mustafa Centre as well as the Project Glory construction site which have employees who reside at the S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, Sungei Tengah Lodge, Tampines Dormitory Cochrane Lodge II and Toh Guan Dormitory.
Speaking on the transmission of cases, Ministry of Health’s Director of medical services Assoc Prof Kenneth Mak said, “we believe that the workers had visited Mustafa and they subsequently transmitted the infection to their co-workers”.
“Transmission most likely occurred through close contact, for example at meal times, during breaks and also between co-workers at work due to physical proximity at worker sites,” he added.
The past few weeks has seen a rise in the number of cases at foreign worker dormitories. Presently, there are four dormitories that have been gazetted as isolation areas, with Sungei Tengah Lodge being the latest to be marked as such from midnight on Thursday.
The other three dormitories are the S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, Toh Guan Dormitory as well as the Westlite Toh Guan Dormitory operated by the mainboard-listed Centurion Corp.
Stemming the spread in foreign worker dorms
For now, the task force says they are adopting a two-pronged approach to deal with the virus. The first is to curb the exponential increase at foreign workers’ dormitories, through the segregation of healthy workers from those who have exhibited signs of being unwell.
This involves effective management across all dormitories in Singapore such that workers’ have a clean and hygienic environment where their basic needs are met. Safe-distancing measures will also be imposed here to reduce close interaction and possible transmission of any symptoms.
Secondly, the task force has also adopted effective public management by reducing the number of workers in each dormitory and moving those who are unwell to other locations. These places include Singapore Armed Forces’ military camps, the Changi Exhibition centre, flotels and vacant Housing Development Board (HDB) sites such as in Tanjong Pagar and Jurong. These locations are said to have a combined capacity in the thousands.
“I want to assure you that we are sparing no effort,” noted Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.
“We are progressively implementing all of these measures and will ensure that we continue to monitor the health and the well-being of our workers, and if they have any issues to address them appropriately”.
‘Circuit-Breaker’
While the spread of the virus is more pronounced in workers’ dormitories, the task force stressed that social distancing within the general population should also be adhered to.
“It is not that foreign workers have inherently higher risks, the risk of infection is the same for everyone, regardless of race and nationality,” stressed Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong.
Thursday marks day three of the 'circuit-breaker' which restricts non-essential travel other than for medical purposes or to supermarkets.
While the task force did not mention a further tightening of existing measures, they did not rule out the possibility of doing so in the coming weeks.
Noting other countries’ stringent and specific movement control orders Wong said Singapore “will review and may well have to do that” if social distancing measures are not adhered to.
“We may have to tighten the circuit-breaker even more so we can focus on containing [the spread of the virus]” said Wong adding that residents should “minimise movement and stay home, so we don’t become the weakest link causing another cluster to emerge in our own communities”.
“The key message is: stay home. Go out only for essential services. Don’t socialise. The long weekend is coming – don’t go out, but instead call your family and friends or chat with them through video conferencing,” advises Health Minister Gan Kim Yong.
