342 residents from a block in the Space@Tuas dormitory have been quarantined after just one of the block's inhabitants was confirmed to have Covid-19.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said that the residents would be moved to a Government Quarantine Facility (GQF) for 14 days.
The confirmed case was discovered through MOM's routine testing of migrant workers living in dormitories, on Sep. 28.
What happened after the positive result?
Following the positive test result, a Stay-Home Notice (SHN) was issued to the workers staying at two different blocks in the dormitory as a precautionary measure.
This was because of an initial assessment that the residents of both blocks could have mixed with each other.
However, it was later established that the workers from both blocks were unlikely to have mixed and the SHN for the unaffected block was rescinded.
How did one person cause 342 others to be quarantined?
It was also established that safe living measures were "not strictly enforced within the affected block", MOM said.
Therefore, the 342 residents, who work for 27 employers, were deemed to be at risk and have been quarantined.
In a similar announcement on Aug. 12, the Ministry of Health said that 800 migrant workers had to be quarantined after a new case was discovered.
MOM said that dormitory operators, employers and workers should comply with safe living measures within the dormitories.
This is so that "only affected workers in the same level or section need to be quarantined if there is a COVID-19 case, instead of the entire block."
Top image via Google maps street view