Some 4,800 workers in Singapore have been issued stay-home notices at Sungei Tengah Lodge located at 500 Old Choa Chu Kang Road.
This new development was announced by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on late Sunday, Aug. 23, after the dormitory was initially declared cleared of Covid-19 by MOM in July.
New cluster emerges
A new Covid-19 cluster emerged at the dormitory a day earlier.
The dormitory, with more than 2,200 confirmed cases, was among the largest Covid-19 clusters in Singapore.
As of Sunday, 58 asymptomatic cases have been linked to the new cluster.
Sungei Tengah Lodge is Singapore's biggest purpose-built dormitory, with about 16,000 workers.
Positive cases sent for treatment
Workers who test positive will be sent to community care facilities or hospitals for medical treatment.
Those who test negative will be quarantined at centralised facilities.
The rest of the residents at Sungei Tengah Lodge are either recently recovered or were not close contacts of confirmed cases.
They will not be isolated and are allowed to continue working.
Workers who are not recently recovered will continue to undergo rostered routine testing.
Joint statement issued
MOM said in a joint statement with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Building and Construction Authority (BCA) that the move to issue a stay-home notice was a precautionary measure.
The workers will be tested over the next few days.
MOM said: “We expect to find among these workers, some who have evidence of an old infection and are no longer infectious. Such workers will be released from stay-home notice and can resume work.”
Safety time-out issued
BCA said in its statement that it has issued a safety time-out notice to 20 construction projects.
These are where the Covid-19 positive workers had been working.
The affected areas will be disinfected and safe management measures at the work sites will be reviewed, it said.
A stop-work order may then be issued for part or whole of the worksite once the area where the Covid-positive worker and his co-workers operate have been identified.
Background
Covid-19 cases have been emerged in migrant worker dormitories previously given the all-clear.
A new cluster was identified on Aug. 23 at Homestay Lodge at 39 Kaki Bukit Avenue 3, despite the dormitory being cleared of Covid-19 by MOM on Aug. 4.
Top photo via Google Maps