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SINGAPORE: Nine groups of COVID-19 in foreign employee dormitories were declared closed on Tuesday (August 4), adding the Tuas View Dormitory group, which was connected to more than 1,500 cases.
According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), the recently enclosed COVID-19 groups are: SCM Tuas Lodge at 80 Tuas South Boulevard, Tuas View Dormitory at 70 Tuas South Avenue 1, 17 Jalan Besut, five Kian Teck Crescent, 8 Sungei Kadut Avenue, 3 Sungei Kadut Avenue, 11five Tuas View Walk 1, 117 Tuas View Walk 1 and 38 Woodlands Industrial Park E1 – 04-18 / 19.
The Ministry of Health said the inter-agency organization had “systematically cleaned the dormitories through aggressive testing of migrant staff living in dormitories.”
“The (nine) dormitories have been cleared, and now house only recovered individuals and those who have recently tested negative for COVID-19 infection. As such, the clusters have now been closed,” added the health ministry.
As of Tuesday, there were 1,503 cases linked to Tuas View Dormitory, which was among the first dormitories where a COVID-19 cluster was identified.
He declared an isolation zone on April 17 under the Infectious Diseases Act. That order revoked on Tuesday.
“All stakeholders (bedroom operators, employers and migrant staff) must make arrangements before we can allow open block/bedroom staff to return to work,” the Ministry of Labour said on its website.
“Most bedrooms/blocks complete those arrangements within a week of their launch.”
Most foreign worker dormitories should be cleared of COVID-19 by the start of August, said former Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong last month.
Mr Wong, who is now Education Minister and remains co-chair of the multi-ministry task force, said all dormitories should be cleared of COVID-19 by the end of the first week of August, with the exception of 17 standalone blocks in eight purpose-built dormitories that serve as quarantine facilities.
These blocks house 28,000 workers who will still be serving out their isolation period. This is the last batch of workers to complete their isolation period, and they will be tested by the end of the first week of August, Mr Wong said last month.
Singapore reported on Tuesday 295 new coVID-19 infections, two on the network and seven imported instances. This brings the total number of instances in the country to 53,346.
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