Singapore quarantines hundreds after dorm workers test positive

SINGAPORE has discovered more virus cases in a foreign worker dormitory that was within the epicenter for the Covid-19 outbreak in the country last year, raising concerns about reinfections as most of the laborers had previously tested positive.

To stop the potential spread, more than 1,100 people living in the same block as the infected workers will be sent to a government quarantine facility for 14 days, Channelnewsasia reported, citing a letter signed by the dormitory’s manager to clients.

The government said a 35-year-old Bangladeshi migrant worker staying at the dormitory in northern Singapore tested positive for the virus earlier in the week, despite having received both doses of vaccine.

Virus testing was then conducted on all residents at the dormitory as a precaution, and the 10 other workers were isolated and transported to a government health facility to investigate for possible re-infection. One person under quarantine, who is a roommate of the 35-yearold worker, was found to be Covid-19 positive at a dedicated quarantine facility.

Both the health and manpower ministries are currently investigating the cases. This development comes after many weeks of almost zero new cases among the laborers and thousands of them getting vaccinations.

The workers are from the Westlite Woodlands dormitory, located on the far north side of Singapore. The dormitory first reported a cluster of virus cases in April last year but this cluster

was closed in October after no new cases were found there for 28 days, according to Channelnewsasia.

Reinfection concerns

LAST year, Singapore confined hundreds of thousands of workers to their dormitories to prevent an outbreak in their ranks from spreading across the island. Though Singapore has largely managed to control the pandemic, and has one of the fastest vaccination rates in Asia-pacific, concerns of reinfection are growing as new virus variants emerge and global cases tick up.

Singapore is reviewing border controls for travelers who recovered from the virus. The country and Hong Kong called off an announcement planned for Thursday on an air-travel bubble, according to people familiar with the matter, the second time in five months the highly anticipated arrangement for quarantine-free travel between the two financial hubs has run into obstacles.