All migrant worker dorms, including standalone isolation blocks, cleared of Covid-19: MOM

• All residents in standalone blocks have finished their isolation or have been moved to other facilities
• More migrant workers can now return to work 
• But some workers who do not meet certain requirements may still be stopped from resuming work 

SINGAPORE — All migrant worker dormitories, including standalone blocks in purpose-built dormitories serving as isolation or quarantine facilities, have been cleared of Covid-19, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Wednesday (Aug 19).

This means that all residents in the standalone blocks have either completed their isolation or have been moved to other government facilities depending on their health status, the ministry added.

In a press statement, MOM said that the number of migrant workers who can return to work would also increase.

“We expect the recently cleared dormitories to soon complete the necessary preparations, with an additional 20,000 residents expected to have (the) green AccessCode.”

The AccessCode is a feature on the ministry’s SGWorkPass mobile application. It helps employers track which workers can leave their residence for work.

Workers can leave for work only if their access code is green. A red status indicates that they are not allowed to leave for work.

Of the 20,000 workers expected to be allowed to resume work, MOM said that half presently have a red AccessCode because their addresses have not been updated.

“Reminders will be sent to dormitory operators and employers to update workers’ addresses accordingly,” MOM said.

As of Wednesday, 86 per cent of migrant workers from the construction, marine shipyard and process sectors have obtained a green AccessCode.

For workers from these sectors who live in dormitories, 84 per cent have a green AccessCode.

This is about a 20-percentage-point increase for both groups from two weeks ago, MOM said.

But the ministry said that going forward, it expects that there would always be a proportion of workers who have a red AccessCode.

There are several possible reasons for this.

For example, these workers may have tested positive for Covid-19 recently and are still undergoing treatment. 

Or they may be close contacts of a Covid-19 patient and placed under quarantine, or put on a precautionary quarantine order while their exposure to a coronavirus case is being established.

Workers may also have a red AccessCode if they no longer have the TraceTogether app installed on their mobile phones or failed to take part in fortnightly routine Covid-19 testing when required to do so.

All migrant workers living in dormitories, those employed in the construction, marine and process industries, and those who must go into work sites must be tested for the coronavirus every 14 days as part of safeguards to ensure the safe resumption of work.

“These (red AccessCode) occurrences are part of the overall system of ensuring compliance with rostered routine testing and that any cases detected are contained, with contacts traced and the block or level of the dormitory isolated,” said MOM.

On Tuesday, MOM and the Ministry of Health announced that about 100 Covid-19 cases had been detected in workers’ dormitories that were cleared of the coronavirus.

These workers live in purpose-built or factory-converted dormitories and temporary living quarters, and were identified through the fortnightly routine testing. 

Singapore has 56,031 confirmed Covid-19 cases.