The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) have apologised for a three-week delay in informing a migrant worker of his positive Covid-19 test result status.

The resident at Toh Guan Dormitory had his test on June 22, but was informed by the authorities that he tested positive for Covid-19 only on July 13.

This delay was the result of an administrative error that occurred after the worker was swabbed.

“We apologise for the error and consequent delay in conveying the test results... We have since reached out to the employer to explain the situation,” said the ministries in a joint statement.

The incident was publicly called out by by the worker’s employers, Tsjin Chandra Dolly and Kelly Soh.

Two separate Facebook posts about the issue surfaced a week before this apology.

The two women said nothing was arranged as of July 15, and the worker still continued to live in the same room with his 11 other roommates after his positive test.

They were initially informed by MOH on July 13 that the ministry required 24 hours to arrange for the worker to be moved out of the dormitory.

The multi-ministry task force handling Singapore’s response to the disease outbreak told the employers they would take care of the matter.

On July 19, MOH and MOM said Toh Guan Dormitory has been under isolation since April 6.

Survey tests on group

MOH and MOM said the worker was tested as part of a survey, where several swab tests are pooled together and tested as a group.

This was to assess the extent of the spread of the infection in the dormitories.

The ministries clarified that the survey tests are separate from individualised testing.

The results from the survey cannot be used for the clearance of the workers.

The workers had been selected for the survey test, along with some other residents in the dormitory.

Most of the worker and his 11 roommates tested positive for Covid-19.

MOM and MOH added that the workers involved in the incident were well throughout and did not exhibit any acute respiratory infection symptoms.

As part of the clearance process, all residents in the dormitory - including the 12 workers - were tested for Covid-19 from the end of June.

These tests found that among the worker’s 11 roommates, seven had old infections and had already recovered from the disease, three had recent infections and have been transferred to a community care facility, and one worker was not infected.

Why error occurred

However, an administrative error that occurred stemmed from the team conducting the survey realising subsequently that the swab test conducted for the worker was an individualised test and not part of the pooled survey.

That was why the delay occurred and worker was informed only three weeks after his Covid-19 test was positive for the infection, the authorities said.

The worker has recovered from the infection and did not display any symptoms.

Clearance process at dormitory sound

Both ministries said the error “does not change or impact the overall procedure” of the clearance process being conducted in Toh Guan Dormitory.

Appropriate isolation periods were also carried out between tests.

“Throughout this period, all 12 workers continued to be cared for in their rooms," said the ministries.

Top photo via Facebook & Google Maps