Singapore: The Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Monday (November 15) that Singapore will further relax COVID-19 restrictions on migrant workers living in dormitories and allow more vaccinated workers to go to the community.
From December 3, the authorities will allow 3,000 vaccinated migrant workers to visit any place in the community every day, with a maximum duration of 8 hours per visit.
There are currently 3,000 migrant workers every week, and visits are limited to Little India and Geylang Serai.
The Ministry of Health stated that vaccinated workers must undergo Rapid Antigen Test (ART) as an additional precaution before leaving the dormitory. Workers who have not been vaccinated are still not eligible for community visits.
The ministry stated that migrant workers’ dormitories are now “more resistant to the new crown virus”, and 98% of migrant workers living in dormitories have been vaccinated.
The Ministry of Health said: “Migrant workers also receive booster vaccines at an encouraging rate when they meet the conditions.”
The Ministry of Health added that the COVID-19 infection in the dormitories has been “stabilized” in the past few weeks, and an average of 143 migrant workers tested positive by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) every day last week.
Migrant workers in the dormitory are also tested weekly, regardless of the vaccination status, except for recovered workers.
From December 3, workers will also be allowed to visit the entertainment center every day, with each visit being extended by 8 hours. This is higher than the upper limit of three visits to the entertainment center per week, with a maximum of four hours per visit.
Migrant workers who have not been vaccinated must undergo pre-visit testing before they can enter the entertainment center. They can use negative ART results from roster routine testing or pre-event ART.
Currently, visits are limited to designated entertainment centers, but starting in mid-December, migrant workers will be able to visit any entertainment center of their choice.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is cooperating with entertainment center operators to increase the variety of entertainment center activities, such as organizing movie screenings and sports competitions. They also developed a process to manage the visits of a large number of migrant workers.
