Covid safeguards for migrant workers tightened from Friday
Move aims to cut risk of reinfection among workers who have recovered from virus
Covid-19 safeguards for migrant workers will be tightened from today to reduce the risk of reinfection among workers who have recovered from the virus.
The move comes after a new cluster of cases involving such workers was detected at Westlite Woodlands dormitory earlier this week.
The multi-ministry task force said yesterday the measure is to prevent potential "leaks" - involving new variants of the virus from Indian workers who have just arrived - into the migrant worker dormitories, though it stressed that there is no evidence the recent cases at Westlite Woodlands are linked to the new Covid-19 strain from India.
All newly arrived migrant workers from higher-risk countries and regions, including those with a positive serology result, will now have to serve the full 14 days of their stay-home notice (SHN) period at dedicated facilities, Second Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng said at a news conference yesterday.
After clearing a Covid-19 test, they will be sent to the Migrant Workers Onboarding Centre.
Previously, some of these workers had to serve their SHN for only four days in dedicated facilities like hotels before being sent to Migrant Worker Onboarding Centres for the remainder of their SHN period.
Newly arrived migrant workers with a positive serology result will now have to go through a rostered routine testing (RRT) regime, where they will be tested every two weeks, Dr Tan said. They were previously exempt from this requirement.
From next Thursday, workers who have recovered from Covid-19 will also no longer be exempt from RRT, said Dr Tan.
Such recovered workers living in dorms, or who are from the construction, marine and process sectors and living in Singapore, will have to go through RRT after nine months, or 270 days, from the date of their past infection.
They were previously exempted from this in November after scientific evidence suggested the workers were at low risk of developing reinfection, given that the vast majority of recovered workers continue to have antibodies, including neutralising antibodies, 180 days after the onset of illness.
But the latest scientific evidence from the cohort of recovered persons in Singapore close to a year from the date of infection found there can be a possible gradual decrease in antibody levels, said Dr Tan.
This is based on a review by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Manpower, in consultation with infectious disease specialists.
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