Cost was not why foreign workers were not moved out of their dormitories earlier as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo yesterday.

Rather, this could be done only in the context of wider measures to break the transmission, such as work stoppages, closing shopping areas and preventing people from socialising.

Mrs Teo was asked during yesterday's virtual press conference whether foreign workers were not asked to move out of dormitories earlier because of the potentially high cost, at a time when there were not as many confirmed cases among this group to justify doing so.

She replied that the issue went "well beyond costs".

Mrs Teo noted that measures to contain the virus 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 more recent measures went much further, in asking workers not to socialise, cook meals for themselves, or even go to work, impacting their lives and livelihoods.

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.

"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 for themselves, 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.

"And it is important for us to recognise this and not frame this really from a cost viewpoint and as a result conclude that we didn't undertake these measures earlier only because of cost."

With 10,000 workers in essential services having 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 yesterday.

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 yesterday.