Measures for migrant workers to be tightened from today

Covid-19 safeguards for migrant workers will be tightened from today to reduce the risk of re-infection among workers who have recovered from the virus.

The move comes after a new cluster of cases involving such workers was detected at the 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 that 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 Worker Onboarding Centre (MWOC).

Previously, some of these workers only had to serve their SHN for four days in dedicated facilities like hotels before being sent to Migrant Worker Onboarding Centres for the remainder of their SHN period.

Those with a positive serology result also did not have to serve the 14-day 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 for Covid-19 every two weeks, Dr Tan said. They were previously exempt from this requirement.

From April 29, workers who have recovered from Covid-19 will also no longer be exempt from rostered routine testing, 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 rostered routine testing after about nine months, or 270 days, from the date of their past Covid-19 infection.

They were previously exempted from this last November after scientific evidence suggested that the workers were at low risk of developing re-infection, 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 in those who have recovered from Covid-19, said Dr Tan. This is based on a review by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Manpower, in consultation with infectious disease specialists.

"Although this is just one indicator of immunity, given the new variants of the virus emerging, the risk of breakthrough immune protection could have increased," he said.

"With these additional precautions, we will be casting the net wider, allowing us to intervene more quickly."

Asked about measures to minimise the risk of the virus spreading to the community, Dr Tan said migrant workers who do not live in dorms - and who are allowed to move around in the community - carry contact tracing devices.

There are also "aggressive" protocols and contact tracing regimes in place at such worksites. About 600,000 Covid-19 tests are conducted every month for those who work at these worksites, he added.

"We believe that the measures today are wide enough, but... will continue to widen the net if we think that the numbers show otherwise."