The Covid-19 multi-ministry taskforce is planning to test all 300,000 plus migrant workers in dormitories, the Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong stated at a press conference on May 12.

More than 3,000 migrant workers are tested daily

With regard to the current rate of testing, more than 3,000 workers in the dormitories are tested daily, with a total of over 32,000 migrant workers tested thus far, according to a press release by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The press release highlighted that many of these workers showed no symptoms when they were tested, and that MOH plans to increase the rate of testing over time.

Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said that "progress" was being made:

"For the situation in the migrant worker dormitories, we are making progress in clearing, testing the workers. We are committed to testing all the workers to make sure that they are free from infection."

20,000 workers to be ready for discharge by the end of May

He added that the rationale for doing so was to "ensure that we are thorough and systematic cleaning up, and clearing the dorms, and verifying the status of all the workers before they resume work."

Wong said that about 20,000 migrant workers will be ready for discharge by the end of May, given that many of them were recovering well.

"It's also very encouraging to see that many workers are recovering well, they’re well on the road to recovery and many are ready for discharge. So by the end of this month we will have 20,000 who are ready for discharge, and then likewise in June we expect to see many more recovering and well on their way to being discharged and being able to resume work as well."

How will testing be carried out?

As for the manner in which testing will be carried out, Wong stated that this will be done through mass polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, as well as mass serological tests.

With regard to PCR tests, MOH stated that this is the test which has been relied on thus far to diagnose if someone is infected with Covid-19 in Singapore, and is the globally accepted testing standard.

As for serological tests, these are used to detect antibodies to Covid-19 from a blood sample, as a marker of past infection.

MOH further added that people who have been infected by Covid-19 for more than 10 to 14 days ago will have a positive serology test.

As such, serological testing will be applied to dormitories with a higher rate of infection.

Every migrant worker will be subjected to at least one of the tests

Should a migrant worker have a positive serological test, this will mean that he has been infected at least 10 to 14 days ago.

It will also mean that he will no longer be infectious after a period of isolation.

Meanwhile, migrant workers in dormitories with a lower rate of infection will be subjected to a PCR test.

Workers who have a negative result from either of these two tests, however, will be isolated for 14 days before being subjected to another PCR test, to confirm that they test negative for Covid-19.

The 14-day isolation is necessary as a test before the 14th day will not be able to exclude the possibility of the disease developing at a later point.

Number of cases remain high, asymptomatic cases are also being tested

With regard to the high number of cases reported, Wong stated that this was due to the high number of tests being carried out.

However, the high numbers were not indicative of the rate of new infections in dormitories, as the number reporting acute respiratory symptoms had fallen. 

Wong said:

"If you look at the actual numbers of people who report sick with acute respiratory illness, that number has been coming down by the day, compared to the peak of the outbreak. But every day, in terms of the reported cases, you will still see high numbers. That's because we are continuing to test many workers, including the ones who are asymptomatic and well, because this is part of our process to clear the dormitories systematically."

Top image from JurongHealth Campus Facebook