13,000 foreign workers barred from returning to work after missing deadline for Covid-19 testing

SINGAPORE — Some 13,000 foreign workers will not be able to return to work after they have missed the deadline to undergo the fortnightly Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) last Saturday (Sept 5).

In a joint statement on Monday (Sept 7), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the Building and Construction Authority, the Economic Development Board and the Health Promotion Board (HPB) said that the AccessCode Status of these workers will remain “red” and they “cannot return to work”.

The AccessCode is a feature of the MOM’s SGWorkPass mobile application and helps employers to track which workers are allowed to leave their accommodation for work.

All migrant workers living in dormitories, those employed in the construction, marine and process sectors, as well as those who have to go into work sites are required to undergo the tests every 14 days.

MOM and the government agencies said that since last month, they had been engaging with employers to ensure that their workers undergo the tests before the Sept 5 deadline.

“Agencies have also ensured that there were sufficient (test) slots for booking when the deadline was announced, and guided and assisted employers facing difficulties scheduling workers to do so,” they said.

The authorities stressed that the 13,000 workers “cannot return to work” to protect the health and safety of other workers.

“Once these workers have undergone their RRT, their AccessCode will be restored to green and they will be allowed to return to work,” they said.

They urge the employers of these workers to quickly schedule appointment slots for their workers on HPB’s Swab Registration System to avoid disruption to their business operations.

Just last Friday, the authorities warned that unresponsive employers who have persistently failed to schedule their workers for the test may have their privileges when applying for work passes curtailed.