Not moving workers out of dorms earlier not about cost: Minister

Not moving foreign workers out of dormitories earlier as part of efforts to curb the coronavirus spread was not just a question of cost, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo yesterday.

Rather, other measures needed to be in place to break the transmission, such as work stoppages, closing of shopping areas, and preventing people from socialising.

This goes "well beyond cost", she added during a virtual press conference.

Mrs Teo was asked if the potential high costs was why foreign workers were not asked to move out of dormitories earlier, at a time when there were not as many confirmed cases among them to justify doing so.

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She said measures had been taken at dormitories since early January, by asking operators to raise the standard of hygiene and sharing information with workers on how to protect themselves against the virus.

Safe distancing measures were later implemented at the dormitories, like closing non- essential facilities such as TV rooms.

But the measures announced yesterday, said Mrs Teo, go well beyond those initial steps.

With 10,000 workers in essential services moved out from dormitories to alternative accommodations, residents still in dormitories must not leave the premises from yesterday until May 4, said the Health Ministry.

Covid-19 cases among foreign workers staying in dormitories have become an increasing concern, with 28 out of 43 purpose-built dormitories in Singapore having known clusters as of Monday.

Question of livelihood

Mrs Teo said: "We are now asking the workers not to go to work. So from the workers' standpoint, this is a question of livelihood.

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"Now to say that we could have done this much earlier, I think, really does not reflect an understanding of the workers' own concerns.

"It would not have been so easy to tell the workers: Please don't go to work because we want to protect you."

She added that such measures would need to have been done in the context of a circuit breaker where most work has stopped, and workers cannot use the communal kitchens to cook, or go out on their rest days and interact with their friends.

"So it's not just a question of cost, it is also a question of what is necessary to break the transmission."

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This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.