Another day, another migrant worker dormitory declared as an isolation area.
Basically, when a dormitory is isolated, it means that the residents are not allowed to go out, and unauthorised people are not allowed to go near the place.
Another Dormitory Declared as Isolation Area After It Has 29 COVID-19 Cases
On 9 Apr 2020, it was reported that authorities have declared another dormitory as an isolation area.
Sungei Tengah Lodge, located at 506 Old Choa Chu Kang Road and 512 Old Choa Chu Kang Road, were isolated with effect from 9 Apr 2020 at 12 midnight.
This was after 11 more Covid-19 cases in Singapore were found linked to the dormitory, bringing their total up to 29 cases.
Sungei Tengah Lodge is one of Singapore’s largest dormitories for migrant workers. With ten blocks, it can house up to 25,000 workers
Covid-19 Cases Among Migrant Workers A Cause For Concern
This is the fourth dormitory to be closed within the span of a week.
The first two dormitories that were gazetted as isolation areas were S11 @ Punggol and Westlite Toh Guan.
On Monday, Toh Guan Dormitory was isolated and three days later, Sungei Tengah Lodge joined the ranks as well.
The authorities said they’ve “considered” the matter carefully and decide to go ahead with it to “curb the Covid-19 transmission” within Singapore.
Back on 7 Apr, it was reported that the authorities managed to link 52 local cases.
Out of the 52 cases, 39 were linked to known clusters at foreign workers’ dormitories.
The S11 @ Punggol dormitory has reported 118 cases. Meanwhile, Westlite Toh Guan confirmed 38 cases while Toh Guan Dormitory has 23 cases.
Hopefully, It Won’t Become Like Diamond Princess
The Diamond Princess is a cruise ship, an enclosed area which resulted in a huge bulk of the passengers and crews coming down with Covid-19.
And isolating a dormitory make it seems as though the dorms will go in the same direction.
On Monday, pictures of the horrible living conditions at S11 @ Punggol made its rounds around the internet.
The area was infested with cockroaches, cleaning was done haphazardly, toilets were so clogged up with urine and food arrived late almost every mealtime.
Residents are supposed to remain in their rooms at all time but they were driven out of the room and into the common areas by the stench.
The Ministry of Manpower issued a statement saying they were aware of the “teething problems” and promise to address this as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, they ask for the dormitories’ residents’ “kind patience and understanding”.
