Covid-19: Record 287 new cases in S'pore, with 202 infections linked to dorms with foreign workers who had visited Mustafa Centre

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (April 9) announced 287 new cases of Covid-19 in Singapore, most of which came from worker dormitory clusters. Several of these clusters have also been linked to Mustafa Centre in Little India.

Among the new cases, 217 are linked to existing clusters — including 202 cases linked to dormitories with foreign workers who had visited the mall. Another 19 are linked to other cases, three are imported and 46 cases remain unlinked.

MOH said 54 more cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 460 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged.

The latest daily tally of 287 marks a new record, and is more than double the highest daily spike of 142 cases seen on Wednesday. This brings the total number of confirmed cases here to 1,910.

National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the multi-disciplinary taskforce tackling the coronavirus, said at a media briefing on Thursday that Singapore needs a “major and urgent intervention” to fight the spread of Covid-19 among the foreign worker population.

He noted that the taskforce requires a “dedicated strategy” for foreign workers due to the higher rate of transmission among them, and said it had enlisted the help of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and Singapore Police Force (SPF).

The SAF and SPF will form part of a separate inter-agency taskforce, he said.

Mr Wong added that the taskforce had also invited Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean to guide it in this strategy, given his familiarity with police work. Mr Teo had previously been Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Defence.

As of Wednesday, six people had died from complications due to Covid-19 infection.

Speaking on Thursday at the virtual media briefing on the latest cases, Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, MOH’s director of medical services, said preliminary links have been established between the clusters at Mustafa Centre, a 51-storey mixed-use construction site called Project Glory at Market Street in the central business district and five dormitories — Tampines Dormitory, S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, Toh Guan Dormitory, Sungei Tengah Lodge and Cochrane Lodge II.

“Many of these cases, in fact, started out in the cluster at Mustafa,” said Assoc Prof Mak.

He added that MOH is now testing foreign workers for Covid-19, as “many cases who tested positive were workers who had very mild symptoms and were well”.

Mr Wong said that it is important for Singapore to realise that it is dealing with two separate infections — one in the foreign worker dormitories and one among the local population, where numbers are more stable for now, he added.

“We have had foreign worker cases before, including cases in dormitories. But this time, it is different, because there are many more venues outside of dorms, like Mustafa Centre and the Project Glory (construction site), where foreign workers had gathered and worked together, and the virus spread among them,” he said.

“And when they went back to their respective dorms, they transmitted it back to their fellow workers in these dormitories...So it is very likely that the virus spread has been going around for some time in dorms and we are now seeing all the indicators of it.”

That is why Singapore needs a dedicated strategy for foreign workers, Mr Wong added.

“There is a higher transmission rate among them, given the large number of workers living in close quarters.”

The strategy will firstly involve the effective management of all dormitories, which means taking care of foreign workers’ basic needs and well-being, taking into account factors such as cleanliness and food, and ensuring that safe-distancing measures are fully complied with, Mr Wong said.

Secondly, MOH has deployed medical posts, first at critical dormitories and then at other foreign worker lodgings, for active testing.

To do all of this well, Singapore will need to reduce the number of workers in each dormitory, Mr Wong added.

“So we are moving them out, those that are not sick and in essential services, and we are accommodating them in alternative venues.”

Singapore Armed Forces military camps, the Changi Exhibition Centre, floating hotels usually used for offshore accommodation and a few vacant Housing and Development Board blocks are among the properties that have been requisitioned for this purpose.

“Essentially we are sparing no effort,” Mr Wong said. “We have a responsibility to these foreign workers who come all the way here at considerable expense.”

“Despite our best efforts, all of us will have to be mentally prepared for the number of cases in dorms to rise… But we do have comprehensive measures in place,” he added.

A 'TREMENDOUS TASK'

Prior to the outbreak, there were about 200,000 foreign workers in total housed in 43 dormitories across the island.

On the management of dorms, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said that in the past, maintenance efforts such as ensuring the cleanliness, preparation of meals and isolating sick workers were handled by dorm operators. 

However, speaking at the same briefing, she said that the Government had to step in now as it was a “tremendous task” to achieve all of this in a short time.

To this end, the inter-agency taskforce set up a team comprising officers from the SAF, SPF and MOM to work with individual dorm operators. Their tasks included ensuring the timely distribution of food, although Mrs Teo admitted there were some glitches initially.

Since then, food is now delivered to the workers within two hours and cleanliness has also been stepped up at dorms, said Mrs Teo.

She added that the next step is to “thin out” dormitories so that workers can practise safe distancing and adhere strictly to their quarantine.

Responding to questions from the media on whether, with hindsight, anything could have been done to avoid quarantining thousands of migrant workers in dormitories, Mr Wong said that the authorities cannot predict if a few cases can become a cluster.

“The virus is moving so quickly that unfortunately we do not have luxury of the benefit of hindsight. If I had known, of course I would have done things differently but no one can tell the next step, the next move. The reality is no one will know tomorrow if one case can very quickly spread into a cluster,” he said.

However, with the current situation, Mr Wong said that the Government will put in all the resources it can muster to focus on containing the virus.

This includes not just screening and testing the workers, but also ensuring that their welfare and safety is taken care of, said Mr Wong.

Mrs Teo also noted that the decision to isolate workers was a “non-trivial” decision given its complexity and the level of resources and mobilisation required.

She said that the Government had previously taken steps to manage the situation in dorms, including requiring all returning work pass holders to take a leave of absence and serve out their stay-home notices. The authorities also revoked those who breached the measures as part of strict enforcement efforts, said Mrs Teo.