Immediately after recording its first case in January, Singapore adopted strict border measures and began conscientiously tracing infection routes. The World Health Organization congratulated the country, saying its policies could simply serve as a style for responding to the outbreak. In early April, when the virus swept across the globe, the daily total in Singapore was consistently below 100.
But soon after, cases began to appear within the network of immigrant workers. The virus spread temporarily and without anyone noticing. Today, daily totals number in the hundreds.
The migrant labour force, mainly from Bangladesh and India, has played a role in Singapore’s immediate economic development. The country is home to about one million migrant workers, or just about 20% of the total population.
Around 300,000 of them live in miserable situations and live in dormitories far from the rest of the city. They sleep in cramped rooms, with up to ten employees sharing a single room. In such environments, it is highly unlikely that adequate sanitation and distancing measures will be adopted.
An employee from Bangladesh told NHK in a video interview that 3 other people in his room had tested positive and 4 others were waiting for results. He believes he himself is inflamed because he had a fever a few days earlier. Another man said he had filed several court cases with his employer over operating conditions but had yet to get a response.
Lately, the government has been conducting large-scale testing in those dormitories, but only after cases have been piling up.
“If I had known, I would have acted differently,” said National Development Minister Lawrence Wong.
The government also closed entrances to migrant workers’ dormitories, isolating them from the rest of the city.
Unlike many countries, Singapore did not impose a strict lockdown in the first place. Even in early April, gatherings of ten people or fewer were still allowed. People who didn’t have symptoms weren’t required to wear masks.
Now, schools and main offices are closed. Tours are severely restricted, and the government scours the streets and warns the public not to encounter other people they don’t live with, even if they are family members. Violators face fines of more than $200. and repeat offenders face prosecution.
The government also conducts checks on workplace buildings internal. As a media organization, NHK allowed its workplace to remain open. Government officials visited the workplace in April to make sure we were adhering to distancing protocols.
The government hopes to ease broader restrictions across the country as the number of infections declines, but officials say it will be some time before the outbreak in migrant worker dormitories is contained.
Migrant labor has long been a debatable factor in the country. Many members of the government are observing the country’s reliance on migrant labor. Others are calling for an improvement in the deplorable living situations faced by these workers. The epidemic has brought those problems back to the forefront.
“We are taking care of our migrant workers, who have done so much for us, just as we take care of Singaporeans,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a televised address.
For a government that has long turned a blind eye to the plight of migrant workers, the coronavirus has turned it into something it can no longer avoid.