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Covid-19: Workers at Toh Guan Dormitory to be swabbed weekly as part of trial to detect asymptomatic cases early

SINGAPORE — From Friday (Sept 25), migrant workers at Toh Guan Dormitory in Jurong East will undergo Covid-19 swab tests every seven days instead of 14 days, under a four-week trial to detect asymptomatic cases earlier.

The trial at Toh Guan Dormitory will help authorities understand how more frequent testing would enable earlier detection of asymptomatic Covid-19 cases among migrant workers.

The trial at Toh Guan Dormitory will help authorities understand how more frequent testing would enable earlier detection of asymptomatic Covid-19 cases among migrant workers.

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SINGAPORE — From Friday (Sept 25), migrant workers at Toh Guan Dormitory in Jurong East will undergo Covid-19 swab tests every seven days instead of 14 days, under a four-week trial to detect asymptomatic cases earlier. 

Announcing the pilot scheme on Wednesday, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Ministry of Health (MOH) said that it would also allow quicker containment of the coronavirus, should cases be detected.

The trial entails an extra round of testing for the workers, on top of the rostered routine testing done every fortnight that all migrant workers in dormitories must undergo.

The additional tests will be conducted in the dormitory to minimise the impact on the work schedules of the workers, the ministries said.  

Instead of the usual nasopharyngeal swab, which reaches into the back of the nose, the extra test will use a combination of an oropharynx (back of the throat) and mid-turbinate nasal (going halfway into the nose) swabbing method. 

The ministries said that this method would be more comfortable for the workers.

At a press conference by the governmental task force handling the Covid-19 pandemic on Wednesday evening, Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, MOH’s medical services director, said that the nasopharyngeal method can be a “very traumatic experience”, especially for workers who undergo such tests regularly. 

“Sometimes, if this is done forcefully, you can even have nosebleeds and, therefore, the workers might develop some aversion to wanting to comply and continue with this process of regular testing,” he said.

MOH has been exploring different methods and hopes to progressively extend them, starting with regional testing centres and eventually deploying them in hospitals and polyclinics, Assoc Prof Mak said.

The ministry will also study whether the combination of the oropharynx and mid-turbinate nasal tests is needed or if one sample will suffice. 

Assoc Prof Mak said that MOH is committed to exploring other methods, including deep-throat saliva tests, to see if they are sensitive or feasible enough for future Covid-19 testing.

EARLY DETECTION WILL ENABLE MORE TARGETED QUARANTINES

MOM and MOH said that the trial at Toh Guan Dormitory would help authorities understand how more frequent testing would enable earlier detection of asymptomatic coronavirus cases among migrant workers.

“With the earlier detection of new infections, MOM may not require the entire block of the dormitory to be quarantined should there be a Covid-19-positive case, as long as safe living measures are complied with,” the ministries said.

These measures include procedures to tighten entry and exit controls at the dormitories, and limit the mixing of workers between blocks and floors.

“This will enable a more targeted quarantine approach that will minimise the disruption to workers and employers,” the ministries said.

Assoc Prof Mak said that the trial’s results would also allow authorities to decide if they can safely perform weekly swab tests at other dormitories. 

“It may also allow us to think about more tiered approaches, where higher-risk dormitories might engage in higher-frequency testing, whereas other dormitories might engage in the traditional 14-day cycle.”

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Migrant Workers Toh Guan Dormitory Covid-19 coronavirus Covid-19 test

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