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Coronavirus: Some of Singapore’s Poorest Stay in Lockdown While Others Move Freely
Posted
September 9, 2020
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Sep 9, 20201:59Now PlayingWith restaurants and malls bustling, pre-pandemic life is slowly returning for people in Singapore, except for the more than 300,000 migrant workers who make up much of the city’s low-wage workforce.
Since April, these workers have been confined to their residences with limited exceptions for work.
After an extensive testing and quarantine campaign, the government cleared the dormitories where most of these workers live of Covid-19 in August, letting residents leave for several “essential errands,” like court appearances and doctor’s appointments.
The government said last month it was working toward relaxing more rules for workers. Those plans are now under threat, with new virus clusters emerging in the dorms, where workers from China, India, Indonesia and elsewhere share bunks and tight living spaces.
Singapore has been saying it’s taking appropriate measures, considering that migrant workers have accounted for nearly 95% of the city’s coronavirus cases. But the resurgence, so soon after the dorms were declared Covid-free, is raising questions about whether Singapore’s conditions for its low-wage work force undermine the efforts to stamp it out.
As of June, the government had moved more than 32,000 workers into temporary accommodations in response to the crisis.
Longer term, it plans to build 11 new dorms which will limit occupancy to 10 single beds per room; toilet, bathroom and sink facilities will be shared by every five residents, down from 15 currently.
As outbreaks ebb and flow, the government has warned that the city-state won’t return to pre-Covid norms any time soon. Instead the leaders are describing a “new normal,” where crowds and large gatherings are restricted until there’s a vaccine and social distancing is enforced.
For Singapore’s migrant workers, that has ushered in a series of safe living measures, including the mandatory use of a government contact-tracing app.
Employers also have to ensure that dorm workers as well as those in sectors like construction go for routine testing every 14 days. In at least one dorm, residents have been allowed one 30-minute visit to the on-site amenities a day, otherwise they’re expected to be in their room or at work.
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