Photos allegedly show appalling conditions in Kranji dorm gazetted as isolation area

With work permit holders in dormitories making up the bulk of new Covid-19 cases recently and 19 dormitories gazetted as isolation areas, the spotlight has been cast on migrant workers and their welfare.

Troubling images emerged on Sunday (April 19), claiming to show less than sanitary conditions at Kranji Lodge 1, which was gazetted as an isolation area on April 17.

The Kranji Lodge 1 cluster is linked to 150 confirmed cases, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its official update yesterday (April 21).

The photos, shared on Facebook by one Tony Keng, bore a handwritten date stamp and revealed rubbish piled up in sinks, overflowing bins as well as dirty toilets.

One sink was filled with items belonging to Covid-19 patients, according to the caption on one photo.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/1569423593/posts/10216155066300601/?d=n[/embed]

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) had said on April 10 that dormitory operators were "working closely" with vendors and in-house cleaners to improve cleanliness and sanitation standards as workers would be spending more time in their dormitories.

All migrant workers in dormitories gazetted as isolation areas are required to stay in their rooms as much as possible.

MOM also announced enhanced safe distancing measures on April 14, putting all dormitories "effectively on lockdown". Besides essential workers, who will be housed separately, all workers are prohibited from leaving their dormitories.

For dormitories gazetted as isolation areas, the enhanced cleanliness regimes include increasing the frequency of refuse collection and removal from once a day to three to five times daily.

Common areas and toilets will also be disinfected and cleaned an average of three times a day, MOM said.

AsiaOne has reached out to MOM and Vobis Enterprise, which manages the dormitory, for comment.

Some 200,000 workers reside in 43 purpose-built dormitories licensed under the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act (FEDA), while another 95,000 are housed in roughly 1,200 factory-converted dormitories.

The issue of migrant workers' poor living conditions is not a new one — non-profit organisation Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) called for better housing for workers following Zika virus and dengue outbreaks back in 2016.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.

kimberlylim@asiaone.com