SINGAPORE: The cleanliness and sanitation at four of the foreign worker dormitories that have been gazetted as isolation areas has “vastly improved”, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Friday (Apr 10).
In a media release, MOM said “enhanced measures and cleaning routines” had been put in place at the S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, Westlite Toh Guan Dormitory, Toh Guan Dormitory and Sungei Tengah Lodge.
At these isolation areas, workers are quarantined in their rooms for a two-week period as part of efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. They also receive onsite medical support and enhanced health screening.
COVID-19 infections have spiked in foreign worker dormitories recently, with cases linked to 10 such dormitories across the island. Out of Singapore’s 2,108 COVID-19 cases, more than 500 cases are linked to dormitories.
Photos and videos circulating on social media earlier this week appeared to show crowded and unsanitary conditions at the S11 Dormitory @ Punggol – currently the largest coronavirus cluster in Singapore, with 306 cases.
Rubbish chutes at the Westlite Toh Guan Dormitory being washed on Apr 10, 2020 (Photo: Ministry of Manpower)
MOM said it had instituted “enhanced waste management and sanitation regimes” at the four isolation areas.
“The frequency of refuse collection and removal from the premises for disposal have been increased from once a day to three to five times daily, depending on the premises,” said the ministry.
It noted that disinfection and cleaning of common areas and washroom facilities are also being carried out an average of thrice a day at the four isolation areas.
These measures will also be introduced at the Tampines Dormitory – where are there currently 49 COVID-19 cases – which was also gazetted as the fifth such isolation area on Friday.
MOM also noted that dormitory operators had been working with external vendors as well as in-house cleaners to improve the cleanliness and sanitation in the dorms.
The measures taken include increasing the rounds of cleaning at the dormitories up to five times a day and getting additional to clean frequently used areas such as toilets and corridors.
External vendors have also been engaged to clear rubbish at the isolation areas, as well as increasing the frequency of disinfecting from twice to four times daily.
A worker disinfects a toilet at Toh Guan dormitory, Apr 10, 2020. (Photo: Ministry of Manpower)
“MOM officers have been working round the clock at the dormitories gazetted as isolation areas to ensure the foreign workers’ well-being is taken care of and the living conditions are of the highest standards,” said the ministry.
It added it would act on feedback provided by dormitory residents to determine possible areas of improvements.
In a video posted on his Facebook page on Friday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singapore was paying “close attention” to the welfare of foreign workers, amid the COVID-19 outbreak. “They came to Singapore to work hard for a living, and provide for their families back home … We will do our best to take care of their health, livelihood and welfare here, and to let them go home, safe and sound,” he said.
SINGAPORE: Areas in Singapore that are usually teeming with people are now mostly devoid of crowds, after “circuit breaker” measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 kicked in on Tuesday (Apr 7). We went around the island to document what Singapore looks like during this time, when all are encouraged to stay home to help curb an outbreak.
SINGAPORE: Ground-up initiatives have sprung up to help foreign workers who have been affected by Singapore’s “circuit breaker” measures that are aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
COVID Migrant Support Coalition, an informal group consisting of volunteers from Geylang Adventures, ItsRainingRaincoats, Singapore Migrant Friends and Migrant X Me, has been distributing lunch and dinner packs since Tuesday (Apr 7), when the measures were implemented.
On Thursday, they handed out S$2,178.50 worth of lunches and dinners – 254 packets each round – to eight locations, according to numbers collated by Geylang Adventures founder Cai Yinzhou.
Under the measures that came into play on Tuesday, foreign workers not staying in dormitories designated as isolation areas are allowed to leave their places of residence to purchase essentials.
But without clear directives, some of these workers are worried about leaving their premises, while others have been told by their employers to stay inside, said Mr Cai, who is spearheading the effort to hand out the meals.
News reports stating that foreign workers are prohibited from leaving their dormitories have further drummed up the unease among the workers, he added.
Most of the coalition’s beneficiaries are currently housed in factory-converted dormitories or temporary housing quarters on worksites, which are typically ran by the company that employs the workers living on-site, Mr Cai said.
These are different from the 43 purpose-built dormitories that house about 200,000 workers. These purpose-built dormitories are currently being co-managed by Government officers who have been deployed to work with their dormitory operators to run the places.
Five dormitories have been declared isolation areas, in which workers are not allowed to leave their dormitories for 14 days. The Government has stepped in to provide meals for the workers.
But for workers who live in factory-converted dormitories or temporary housing quarters on worksites, it is a different story.
Workers who need food will be referred through Singapore Migrant Friends, an informal organisation of foreign workers, who then inform the volunteer food distributors.
Besides transporting meals, the volunteers will use donations from members of the public to purchase other essentials, such as eggs, toilet paper and soap that will then be delivered to the workers. Some individuals have came forward to donate these items as well.
One of the meals given to the foreign workers by COVID Migrant Support Coalition. (Photo: Cai Yinzhou).
Other NGOs have been jumpstarting their own projects to help workers during this period.
From next week, SDI Academy is planning to give out at least 2,500 welfare packs that contain hand sanitisers, rice, oil and face masks.
It is currently collecting donations and putting the bags together, the organisation’s chief executive Sazzad Hossain said, and the packs will be distributed to workers living in factory-converted dormitories.
Separately, ItsRainingRaincoats is looking to hand out about 1,000 SIM data cards to workers, its founder Dipa Swaminathan said.
“We think that they need some form of entertainment when they’re stuck in their rooms,” she said.
“Even though there’s free wifi, (the system could crash if) 30,000 guys … have to get on it at the same time.”
Project Chulia Street is aiming to raising S$358,620 this year to distribute care packets, containing items like soap and a prepaid phone card, to 43,000 migrant workers.
The organisation’s managing director Lee Shaun Tzen said that they will distribute the packs to partner dormitories under Westlite Accommodation and North Coast Lodge, as well as those who have been relocated to alternative sites.
Mr Cai emphasised the need to address migrant workers’ mental health during this period. Volunteers from the informal coalition have been producing 15 minute to 30 minute educational videos that workers can access online. These include language tutorials and lessons on photography and art.
“The workers are unoccupied now and lack meaningful engagement,” he said.
“They may be okay now, but they will get restless after a while,” he added. “Being confined with 10 to 20 workers will have a huge mental impact on them. An idle mind is a dangerous place.”
SINGAPORE: Every lunchtime, Jason Chua would dish out 40 to 50 bowls of his “creative zhap cai png” for a crowd of Central Business District-types. Ever since ‘circuit breaker’ measures kicked in on Apr 7, the 28-year-old has barely been able to hit 10 orders a day.of his pasta and rice bowls.
Some of his neighbours at Hong Lim Market and Food Centre have even resorted to shuttering completely.
But this ‘Beng Who Cooks’ – the name of his stall – vows to continue showing up every day, for as long as he’s got at least one customer: An 80-year-old blind man, whom he’s promised to provide with one meal a day for a month.
This man is the first beneficiary of the ‘Beng Who Cares Foundation’, which Chua and his partner Hung Zhen Long, 27, initiated a day before the enhanced safe-distancing measures took effect.
Food sold at Beng Who Cooks. (Photo: Jason Chua)
Those in need can drop by and claim a free meal, no questions asked. All the pair will need is the address to deliver to.
Chua, who has been running the stall for two years, said:
As long as we don’t die, we carry everyone, so everyone survives together.
That seems to be pretty much the mantra of several hawkers who have taken to social media to offer assistance to anyone struggling to get by, even as F&B businesses are themselves scrambling to stay afloat.
The Curry Rice Stall at Timbre+, for instance, pledged to feed anyone who can’t afford a meal. “If you are hungry, I don’t wanna hear your story. Just tell mine (sic) staff, ‘spare a meal’,” the stall’s owner said in a Facebook post. “Do not feel embarrassed as we all need help at times.”
At 496 Coffeeshop in Jurong West, free breakfast – bee hoon, nasi lemak or yong tau foo – is available, while Jun Yuan House Of Fish gained attention recently for hiring a loyal customer who had lost his job.
DON’T NEED MONEY, JUST SPREAD THE WORD
The ‘Beng Who Cares Foundation’ started “accidentally” when a close friend reached out to Chua with a heart-wrenching story of an elderly uncle begging for loose change. Given the money, he quickly bought and wolfed down a goreng pisang (fried banana) and a cup of coffee.
That’s when Chua and Hung came up with the initiative, with that friend’s financial backing. “He told me, don’t care about money. Just spread the word and make this happen,” Chua said.
And spread the word they did.
Jason Chua, 28, who has been running Beng Who Cooks for two years. (Photo: Jason Chua)
In a video message posted on Instagram, Hung said: “Don’t worry guys, if you need help just come forward. Very easy one. Just message us and collect your food. We don’t need proof.”
Overnight, the post gathered over 700 likes, with even celebrities like Fiona Xie sharing it, said Chua.
At least seven individuals and families in need have come forward. To deliver meals to them as well as usual paying customers, Chua taps on friends and kind strangers who have volunteered their time.
The duo have just one request: Don’t send them any monetary donations, as they have the means to finance the free meals – just help get the word out to those who could benefit.
While the two hawker-preneurs have taken an “80 per cent” hit in business since December, Chua said they can “still survive”.
Weren’t they worried about getting taken advantage of? Said Chua: “If people really resort to such things, then deep down, they really need that help.”
Tanjong Pagar Plaza’s House of Chicken Rice has seen long queues since Apr 3, after owner Khoo Leng How announced that he’d be selling chicken rice at S$0.90 a packet – below cost price. One usually goes for S$4.50.
“This COVID-19 outbreak has ruined things for everyone,” said Khoo, 40, who earned about S$1,000 a day but now takes home just some S$200.
“I thought, selling my chicken rice at S$0.90 to more people can’t hurt my earnings further anyway – I’m already losing money, might as well do some good.”
What also helped was that his landlord has waived three months’ worth of rent.
House of Chicken Rice at Tanjong Pagar Plaza. (Photo: Khoo Leng How)
After Khoo’s Facebook post went up, about 50 customers showed up, most of them elderly folk residing nearby. Prepared for this, he’d laid out markers to ensure they stood the required metre apart.
Working solo at first, he had to chop up chicken while keeping an eye to make sure nobody cut the queue or stood too close to someone else. Khoo welcomed this busyness compared to the alternative: “Even if I sit here the whole day, nobody comes. Better to be doing something.”
Some customers started to help monitor the queue, while his friends and cousin also showed up to help.
At the counter, a bucket was placed for patrons to leave payment – and some have continued to pay the usual S$4.50, which Khoo is thankful for.
The queue formed outside House of Chicken Rice. (Photo: Khoo Leng How)
But there were also opportunistic customers who asked for 10, even 20 packets of chicken rice. So Khoo now limits each person to three packets; and meanwhile, those aged 55 and above can eat for free.
“People think I’m doing advertising but I’m not,” said Khoo, a long-time volunteer who is engaging a volunteer group to deliver 100 packets of chicken rice to the needy every Saturday.
And even as his stall winds down for the day, he always makes sure to hold some packets in reserve for last-minute customers. “I can tell when some have travelled a long way just for this meal.”
The chicken rice sold at S$0.90, which retains the same portion as the usual S$4.50. (Photo: Khoo Leng How)
As for the cost of his supplies, Khoo hopes to work out a bargain with his suppliers at the end of the month. And should the ‘circuit breaker’ measures continue beyond May 4, he’s prepared to close shop for a while. The reason?
Food delivery platforms are still unaffordable for a small hawker like him, he said, even with the Government’s 5 percentage-point subsidy on commission costs.
“Now really spend savings only. No choice,” Khoo said. “I just hope that after this COVID-19 (outbreak) is over, people will come back to eat my chicken rice.”
Khoo has declined monetary donations. Those who wish to help can patronise the store at #02-07, 1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza for chicken rice.
SINGAPORE: We saw the writing on the wall, or we should have, when several weeks into DORSCON Orange, centre-based tuition and enrichment classes had to be suspended in order to reduce intermingling of students from different schools.
This wave of precautionary measures was met with relief and praise from some and slight panic from others as enrichment centres had to make a quick transition from classroom-based lessons to online ones: Music lessons over FaceTime, ballet coaching over Zoom.
Despite these efforts, the situation didn’t bate and the Ministry of Education announced that they were going to institute home-based learning (HBL) for all students. Once a week for the month of April.
That first day, social media was rife with photos of children at laptops and tablets; small, eager, earnest faces, each working on a liturgy of tasks vis-a-vis their Student Learning Space (SLS) and on pre-assigned worksheets.
Invariably, along with the pat-on-the-back posts, came the rants on how HBL was too disruptive, too exhausting for parents who have their own work to do. Some even mused that teachers must be having a relaxing day off now that parents have taken over for the day.
As the national COVID-19 numbers continued to rise, parents and educators clamoured for the government to do more, to close the schools. And so, that came to pass.
WHEN WFH MET HBL
On Friday (Apr 3), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced to the nation that we were entering a stage of heightened measures, as a circuit breaker, which will see schools and institutes of higher learning turn towards HBL for a month. Employers too, barring those that provided essential services, were told to allow their staff to also work from home (WFH) during this period.
Some lauded the move. Others decried how inconvenient things would be for them. How would parents work from home when their kids were going to be home as well?
In the weekend that followed, all hell would break loose.
Crazy queues formed all over the place. A mad scramble to stock up on assessment books at Popular Bookstore to board game buying sprees at Toys R Us. Over at Challenger stores nationwide, tablets became the new toilet paper and laptops the new rice.
A queue forms outside Popular bookstore in United Square shopping mall, Novena, Apr 4, 2020.
Parents stood in long lines to get what they needed to weather the upcoming month where WFH bumps its head with HBL. Most understand the necessity of this drastic move. But few, it seems, actually seem happy at the prospect of hunkering down with their children for an extended amount of time.
TIME TO CHANGE OUR APPROACH TO PARENTING
We who were envious of friends who got to work from home because they seemingly get the best of both worlds, are starting to realise that the grass is always greener on the other side.
Or is it, perhaps, that modern Singapore parenting makes it easy for us to simply outsource our children to school, to teachers, to the next better enrichment lesson, or even our helpers. We assuage our parenting guilt of needing our own space and personal time by convincing ourselves that our children are duly entertained and engaged.
The thing is this, the grass is greener on the side that one tends to and waters regularly. For all the crazy curveballs that COVID-19 has thrown at us, perhaps this is the one silver lining: We get to reset the clock. Not just on the ruthless rampage that is this insolent illness, but also on the relentlessness of modern parenting.
A psychiatrist friend shared a case he had of a school-going boy on the verge of a breakdown who tearfully lamented that his parents get weekends off but he has to spend much of his weekends shuttling between tuition centres with a tight 30-minute window to wolf down his lunch in the car.
A survey done by the Straits Times and Nexus Link showed that seven out of 10 families enrolled their children in tuition classes, with nearly half starting at pre-school levels.
A separate Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study showed that Singaporean students experienced much higher levels of anxiety over their school grades and tests compared to their international peers.
In a country where 70 per cent of all students go for supplementary lessons, where the tuition industry is worth S$1.4Billion and the pressure to excel in sports and school is high; we have always lamented about the need to re-evaluate this pressure-cooker environment on students. Now is the chance – but how?
COVID-19 says, well, hold my beer.
(Photo: Pixabay/StockSnap)
Still, this difficult season unwittingly gives us an opportunity to rethink how we want and should parent. It makes us re-engage our children, re-jig our lives to better suit our version of work-life balance.
RETHINKING OUR ROLES AS PARENTS
It forces us to unpack our over-scheduled lives and re-examine the walls between work life and family life. It means that parents get to reclaim their role as the main purveyor and steward of our child’s education and well-being, instead of outsourcing it to schools and teachers as many of us have done.
I don’t mean that you now need to be able to decipher how many marbles Ali has left after giving two-thirds of his original stash to Samuel and dropping another 15 per cent down the drain.
It means that your children get to take lessons with and from you in the school of life; and you get to craft the syllabus. In this special term, the usual rules don’t apply and the points don’t matter.
So, teach them how to cook, that’s home economics right there. Show them how you balance the monthly grocery budget— hello maths! Exchange Spotify lists for music lessons.
And after “school time”, let them be bored, let them play without feeling the need to police, govern or facilitate learning through play. If it helps you feel better, there’s strong research that shows that boredom is good for kids, it builds creativity and allows the brain to fallow new ideas.
A piece in Psychology Today encourages what they call a Boredomutiny, a rewriting of the rulebook where bored children should not be seen as problems that need fixing, but considered a starting point to encourage unstructured exploration, contemplation and daydreaming that often spurs creativity. The same is true for adults.
And, really, if you are a WFH person and thus have to be around your HBL children, be grateful.
My neighbour is a doctor and she leaves her four children daily to battle on the frontline, leaving her helper the primary caregiver and chief supervisor in this time of HBL. Add to that, the anxiety and worry she carries almost perpetually of bringing the virus home to her family.
Other parents are home because they have lost their jobs or face reduced volumes of work. It’s hard to keep a brave face when the uncertainty bubbles from within and without.
So, the quick and dirty take-home is this: stop whining, stop nit-picking (especially at the teachers) and suck it up. There are ways for you to still be productive at work from home while your kids are on HBL.
It is a rare time where all the pithy life values we espouse is visible up close and personal: adaptability, flexibility, empathy, resilience, gratitude, the importance of being part of the solution and the power of vulnerability.
Our children learn what they live.
You see, we are enrolled in school with our children — welcome to a new term in the school of hard knocks, where we lead by example.
Cherie Tseng is Chief Operations Officer at a local fintech company, a mother of three and editor with The Birthday Collective.
SINGAPORE: By 6am every morning, Mr Tan Chiak Kong is already in his truck, fully decked out in an N95 mask, surgical gloves and disposable overalls, ready to drive off for his first trip of the day.
His first destination is usually a hospital, where he parks the truck at one of its waste collection sites, and manually loads 40 to 50 sealed bins onto the vehicle, sometimes with the help of a colleague.
After that, he drives back to Tuas and unloads them at his workplace – a facility where the content of the bins is incinerated at a temperature of more than 1,000°C.
The 50-year-old is one of the 30-odd workers at medical waste management company Asia Medical Enviro Services.
Ever since the lockdown in his home country of Malaysia, Mr Tan has been on the road seven days a week, picking up two half-day shifts on Saturdays and Sundays, to help his company cope with the higher demand.
Like his frontline counterparts in Singapore during the COVID-19 outbreak, Mr Tan has been working harder than ever despite the risk of catching the invisible pathogen in his role as a medical waste collection worker.
“Of course I’m worried,” Mr Tan, who is one of the firm’s seven Malaysian staff members, said in Mandarin about coming into contact with the virus through his job. “But I also have a responsibility to this company. Now, they’re so busy.”
According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), the daily amount of pathogenic waste collected from medical institutions in March was up by 60 per cent from the 2019 daily average of 10.3 tonnes per day.
While declining to reveal exact figures, Asia Medical Enviro Services’s managing director Gabriel Ho said that the volume of waste treated has gone up, but it is still at a manageable capacity.
Among his clients are SingHealth’s hospitals, including Singapore General Hospital and Sengkang General Hospital. The company, which was Sembcorp’s medical waste division until it was spun off as an independent entity in 2018, is one of the country’s five toxic industrial waste collectors licensed to treat pathogenic waste from medical institutions.
Mr Ho has brought in five more workers since the start of 2020 to ensure he would have enough hands to handle what he anticipated could be higher demand for his services, after hearing the news that medical waste volumes in China were surging. He also began to stock up on protective gear and initiated the company’s crisis protocols in January.
On the day that Malaysia announced it would close its borders, Mr Tan thought “long and hard” about whether to return to be with his wife and two daughter in Johor Bahru.
“Obviously, I would be safest staying at home, but I also need to earn money,” he said, adding that the company has been supportive during this period when he cannot go home.
He is given a S$45 allowance per day, and currently stays at Harbour Ville Hotel in Bukit Purmei with his Malaysian colleagues.
Relatives and even his closest family members have urged Mr Lai Khiu Jee to switch jobs.
“My wife asked me: ‘Why don’t you look for a safer job,’” said Mr Lai, who is one of the company’s plant managers.
He had to assure them that the company was taking additional measures to protect workers like him, the 44-year-old father of two said.
It is a tough job, he added, but one he believes is “critical to the healthcare sector” right now.
“I’m proud to be able to take care of the (health of the public).”
“(I am) very appreciative of all the staff members and their commitment to fight this together,” Mr Ho said. “And I recognise the…work they do behind-the-scene to fight this virus.”
Mr Ho said that the company has followed the guidelines set out by the authorities when processing pathogenic waste.
Asia Medical Enviro Services managing director Gabriel Ho (left). (Photo: Gabriel Ho).
According to NEA, workers must place the bins into automatic feeders that unload the contents into the incinerators to minimise contact with the waste and disinfect the bins after the waste is incinerated.
In addition to these protocols, his company lines every bin with two layers of plastic to prevent any leakage, Mr Ho added, and bags carrying COVID-related waste – like gowns, masks and swabs – are incinerated immediately when they are brought back to the plant.
GENERAL WASTE WORKERS
Aside from medical waste employees, public waste workers, who serve the domestic and trade premises in Singapore, must also be protected, said NEA in a written response.
“Public waste collection poses intrinsic risks to workers, not just from potentially infectious materials, but also toxic substances and sharp objects, among others,” the agency said.
Companies are required by law to provide their workers with personal protective equipment (PPE), which public waste collectors must provide at their own cost, NEA said, adding that it is mandatory for employees to use the PPE issued.
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine including researchers from the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that COVID-19 can remain on plastic and stainless steel surfaces for up to two to three days.
Public waste collector Sembcorp Industries’ senior vice president of waste management Mr Neo Hong Keat similarly said that his workers have been issued masks and personal thermometers. Since the weekend of Apr 4, it is now mandatory for all crew members to wear masks.
Sembcorp, which serves the Woodlands-Yishun and City-Punggol precincts, is one of Singapore’s four public waste collectors.
A clean pair of cotton gloves has also been issued to each of them, he added, which they are able to replace with new ones when they are soiled or after each shift.
(Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
Waste Management & Recycling Association of Singapore’s chairman Ms Melissa Tan said that some of its 167 member companies – most of which are general waste collectors – have provided face masks and hand sanitisers to their workers, while gloves are already part of their usual attire.
General waste collectors primarily serve commercial and industrial premises, according to the NEA’s website.
While hygiene matters have been manageable so far, general waste companies say it is Malaysia’s travel restrictions and the uncertain economic outlook that have impacted their operations significantly.
Ms Tan said that many waste collection employees live in Johor. With the country extending its lockdown, some of them might decide to return home.
The amount of waste collected by general waste firms have also dropped as events, as well as tourism, retail and workplace activities have nearly grinded to a halt.
Some clients may cut payments by having fewer trash collections, she said.
Greenway Environmental Waste Management is similarly bracing themselves for business to plummet, said Steven Lee, its sales manager.
The general waste processor, which mostly handles waste from commercial, industrial and construction sites, will probably see near-zero demand in the next month as offices and non-essential services shut down over the next four weeks, Mr Lee said in Mandarin.
There is enough cash reserves to tide through this period without letting anyone from their pool of nearly 40 employees go, he said, but if the circuit breaker continues past May 4, it is not likely that everyone will be able to keep their jobs.
What has helped, he acknowledged, was that one Chinese national worker resigned as he felt returning to his home country was safer. Another Indian national has not been able to return due to ongoing travel restrictions as well.
As for the safety of their workers, Mr Lee said the company has provided the necessary gear and made putting on masks a requirement. But they are still understandably concerned.
“I’m scared, so of course my drivers are scared. But they are still have to carry on doing their jobs,” he said.
SINGAPORE: A community isolation facility at the Singapore Expo and MAX Atria will be operational from Friday (Apr 10), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.
This comes a day after Singapore saw 287 new COVID-19 cases, the largest spike in numbers to date. The national tally is now at 1,910, with many of the new cases linked to foreign worker dormitories.
The new community care facility will initially have one hall catering to about 480 patients, Health Minister Mr Gan Kim Yong said speaking at a press briefing on Thursday.
It will “progressively expand” as the demand goes up and number of cases increase, he added.
The first of such facilities was initially set up in D’Resort NTUC in Pasir Ris, which can take in about 500 people.
A Community Isolation Facility for COVID-19 patients at The Singapore EXPO & MAX Atria.
Signs outside The Singapore EXPO & MAX Atria, where a Community Isolation Facility for COVID-19 patients has been set up.
The facility at the Singapore Expo will house two types of patients – recovering patients and “early patients”.
Recovering patients, Mr Gan said, are the ones who have been to hospital and have “more or less recovered” from the infection, but may still have the virus in them.
“We need to keep them and watch them and monitor them,” he said, adding this group of patients will be sent to either the Singapore Expo or another similar facility at D’Resort NTUC in Pasir Ris.
Early patients, Mr Gan explained, comprise confirmed COVID-19 cases who are mostly “quite well”. Some of these patients will be sent directly to community care facilities without having to go to the hospital first, and then later get sent back to the facilities.
“Many of them are actually quite well – they do not require extensive medical treatment.
“Most of them will recover over a period of time and we just need to monitor them, make sure they are well and take care of them,” he said.
These two groups of patients will be sent to the Singapore Expo over the next few days.
A Community Isolation Facility for COVID-19 patients at The Singapore EXPO & MAX Atria. (Photo: MOH)
SINGAPORE: They had asked to fly back home due to fears about COVID-19 but as countries went into lockdown, flights were cancelled and the migrant workers are now in quarantine, unable to leave even their dormitory rooms.
One anxious employer told CNA that three of his workers had bought tickets back to Bangladesh about a month back but their flights were cancelled as the country suspended flights from Singapore and other countries last month.
They are now staying with dozens of co-workers at S11 @ Punggol, which was gazetted an isolation area by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Sunday (Apr 5).
Mr Tang, who runs a local electrical works firm, said he has 26 workers staying at three rooms there.
The dormitory had 283 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday and is the worst-hit of the worker dormitories.
Several dormitories have found coronavirus cases and three others have been declared isolation areas – Westlite Toh Guan, Toh Guan Dormitory and Sungei Tengah Lodge.
On Thursday, Singapore reported a record daily spike of 287 COVID-19 cases, with 202 of the new cases linked to clusters at migrant worker dormitories.
Ms Jacqueline Koay, operations manager and director of tiling works firm Tilecon, said that before the recent increase in cases, some of her Bangladeshi workers had wanted to go home as they were “afraid”.
“Once, they saw an ambulance at Sungei Tengah Lodge … the next day, all of them came up to my office, they said they want to go home,” she said.
She managed to allay their fears and the workers stayed. But Ms Koay said she now “feels bad” about persuading them to stay, although it’s not clear if the workers could have returned given the flight suspensions in Bangladesh.
“They trusted us, now it turns out like that, I feel bad,” she said. “Now they’re locked.”
Sungei Tengah Lodge, Singapore’s largest worker dormitory, was the latest such facility to be put in isolation at 11.45pm on Wednesday (Apr 8).
It can house up to 25,000 workers but it’s not clear how many are now in quarantine. There are nearly 25,000 workers in quarantine at the other three dormitories in isolation.
Worker dormitory Sungei Tengah Lodge at Old Choa Chu Kang Road was declared an isolation area after a spike of COVID-19 cases there.
In a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) email to employers that was seen by CNA on Thursday morning, workers from two of the 10 blocks in Sungei Tengah Lodge were instructed to remain in their rooms, while workers from unaffected blocks were told they “should” stay in their rooms and leave only at scheduled times to cook, eat and visit the minimart.
Worried that there would be long queues at the minimart in the dormitory, Ms Koay’s company bought its workers supplies, such as rice and eggs, so that the more than 50 workers would have some food for the 14 days that they are required to stay in the dormitory.
“We’re very worried about our workers,” she said, adding that long queues at the minimart may expose them to the virus. The company’s workers are housed in five rooms.
On Thursday evening, authorities announced that food will be provided for all workers so that they will not need to cook or gather at minimarts.
Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang from Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore told CNA that the number of people in one room is not “strictly speaking” a factor of virus spread.
“If they can space out the distance to about two metres between each bed or person, and get the toilets as well as other common facilities cleaned regularly, it will be helpful,” he said.
He also recommended separating all those with symptoms and testing the rest of the asymptomatic workers quickly, so they can be isolated.
The Government on Thursday said that it has stepped up testing at affected dormitories and is actively screening the workers for coronavirus. It is also in the process of moving some healthy residents to other locations.
MEDICAL SYSTEM IS “BETTER” IN SINGAPORE
Mr Yoga Nathan, owner of SM Waste Management, said that one of his workers also wanted to fly back to India last month, but his flights got cancelled twice.
The company’s workers are at Woodlands Lodge 2, which has not reported any COVID-19 cases. They have been advised to stay in their rooms as much as possible as all worker dormitories in Singapore have implemented stricter safe distancing guidelines amid the outbreak.
As Singapore went into “circuit breaker” mode on Tuesday, non-essential work places closed, meaning that many of the workers now stay in the dormitories the entire day even if they are not in isolation. SM Waste workers can leave the dormitory, but only for work, as they carry out some essential cleaning services.
His workers are still worried about possibly catching the virus either outside or in the dormitory, he said, and he has asked them to always wear masks and to change them regularly.
“They check the temperature, but this sickness, no symptoms also suddenly will come, correct?” Mr Yoga said.
As Woodlands Lodge 2 has no cases yet, he feels that it is safer for the seven workers to stay in the dormitory, which has split the group into two rooms for safe distancing.
Residents at Toh Guan Dormitory are seen carrying plastic bags. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
Ms Christine Pelly, an exco-member of NGO Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), said migrant workers have told them that they are anxious about contracting the disease.
“It’s very difficult to talk about social distancing in the conditions that they (have). They could be sharing a lift going down, they’re sharing toilets.”
But some workers have also said that they believe Singapore’s medical facilities are better. Ms Mandy Chih, managing director of Yong Fong Engineering & Construction, said that none of her workers had asked to go home.
“So far my workers are okay, they feel Singapore’s medical treatment is much better than [in] their home country,” she said. Her 20 workers are under quarantine in two rooms at Toh Guan Dormitory, which is an isolation area.
A room at Toh Guan Dormitory. (Photo courtesy of Mandy Chih)
But she is still concerned about the workers’ emotional health and they have a company group chat in which they send the workers encouraging messages, she said. The dormitory now provides free Wi-Fi to the workers.
Mr Tang said that there are still reports of food distribution being delayed at S11 @ Punggol and complaints from workers, despite action being taken to improve conditions at the dormitory. However, employers with workers at other dormitories said that conditions have improved.
A care pack sent to migrant workers at Toh Guan Dormitory. (Photo courtesy of Mandy Chih)
Manpower Minister Josephine Teo on Thursday promised to further improve conditions at the dormitories.
Meals will be provided to the workers so they do not need to congregate to prepare food, the frequency of cleaning and hygiene will be improved, and sick bays will be expanded to take care of those that need to be isolated, she said.
“In the past, it was always the dorm operators that took care of these things. I think we have to step in and help the dorm operators because it is an enormous task to be able to implement these changes in a short time,” said Mrs Teo.
A multi-ministry task force had been set up to look into this and the Government will ensure “effective management” at all dormitories, said National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the task force against COVID-19.
SAF Medical personnel attending to a foreign worker at S11 Dormitory @ Punggol on Thursday Apr 9, 2020. (Photo: MINDEF)
More workers will also be moved out of the dormitories to military camps, Changi Exhibition Centre and offshore floating lodgings to reduce the population density.
Authorities had earlier said that the Housing Board is refurbishing 21 vacant HDB blocks at Redhill Close to house foreign workers who are healthy and working in essential services.
Link established between Mustafa Centre cluster and dormitories.
Foreign workers stand along the corridor of their rooms in the S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, in Singapore on Apr 6, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
(Updated: )
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SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 287 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday (Apr 9), the largest daily increase so far and more than double yesterday’s highest record, the multi-ministry task force dealing with the coronavirus said during a press conference on Thursday (Apr 9).
This brings the national tally to 1,910.
Of the new cases, 219 are linked to existing clusters, with at least 160 cases linked to the S11 Dormitory @ Punggol.
A total of 19 cases are linked to previous cases, with 46 unlinked cases, the task force said. Three of the latest cases announced are imported. 314 cases have been discharged from acute care, and 705 cases have been moved to a community isolation facility, the task force said.
Singapore has also seen six fatalities from COVID-19, the task force said. It was reported on Wednesday a 32-year-old Indian national died after taking a swab test, and was confirmed to have COVID-19 after his death.
The task force said that with the help of the police and Ministry of Defence, it established a link between the cluster at Mustafa Centre shopping mall and the Project Glory construction site as well as a number of foreign worker dormitories: S11 Dormitory@Punggol, Sungei Tengah Lodge, Tampines Dormitory Cochrane Lodge II and Toh Guan Dormitory.
Director of medical services at the Ministry of Health Assoc Prof Kenneth Mak described how some of the dormitory cases were linked to the Mustafa Centre cluster.
“We believe that the workers had visited Mustafa and they subsequently transmitted the infection to their co-workers,” he said.
“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 work sites,” he said.
Subsequently, they could have spread the infection to colleagues and friends within the dormitories, he added.
Singapore has seen a rise of COVID-19 cases at foreign worker domitories recently.
The other three dormitores that have been gazetted as isolation areas are: S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, Westlite Toh Guan dormitory and Toh Guan Dormitory.
This came after heightened safe distancing measures kicked in on Tuesday as part of a “circuit breaker” period until May 4 to stem the spread of COVID-19.
About 10,000 written advisories were issued on the first two days of the circuit breaker for breaches, including individuals who gathered in public and those who failed to adhere to safe distancing rules.
People who repeatedly flout the stricter safe-distancing measures will face a fine or be charged in court, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
First-time offenders will get a stern written warning. Anyone who commits a second offence will be fined S$300, while a third offence will lead to the person being charged in court.
SINGAPORE: New incentives have been announced to encourage individuals and small businesses to sign up and use PayNow, as part of safe distancing efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19.
On Thursday (Apr 9), the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) announced the Carry On With PayNow campaign, launched in partnership with the nine PayNow participating banks.
For a period of 10 weeks spanning Apr 13 to Jun 21, individuals can win S$100 each week when making PayNow transfers to businesses, with 100 winners for each of the 10 weeks.
The first 20,000 small businesses that sign up for PayNow from Apr 9 to Jul 31 will receive a cash incentive of S$25. Small businesses that receive more than 10 payments through PayNow during the same period will receive an incentive of up to S$50.
Citing safe distancing as a key strategy to minimise the community spread of COVID-19, ABS said digital and contact-free payments help support such measures.
“We understand that some business operators would need help especially with technology, so our personnel are trained to walk them through step-by-step, where necessary,” said Mrs Ong-Ang Ai Boon, Director of ABS.
“ABS is confident that PayNow will continue to be the choice and trusted e-payment platform supported by the banks to meet customers’ payment and collection needs as we progress through this challenging period.”
PayNow is a funds transfer service that allows individuals and businesses to transfer and receive money instantly to other customers who are also registered.
The nine banks which offer PayNow are Bank of China, Citibank, DBS Bank/POSB, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, as well as UOB.
