As of August 23, a total of 58 cases have been linked to a cluster at Sungei Tengah Lodge (STL), a purpose-built dormitory, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a press release. All 58 cases were asymptomatic.
“The vast majority of these cases were detected through Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) of the workers with the rest detected as part of testing of persons under quarantine. Contact tracing and epidemiological investigations are ongoing,” the ministry added.
MOM has issued a Stay-Home Notice (SHN) to around 4,800 workers as a precautionary measure while the health status of the workers is being determined.
“The rest of the residents at STL are either recently recovered workers or were not close contacts of the confirmed cases,” the release said. “In line with the guidance from the Ministry of Health, these workers will be allowed to continue to work and are not required to be isolated. However, all who are not recently recovered workers will continue to be subjected to RRT.”
MOM has also said that it will be testing the workers on SHN in the next few days.
“We expect to find among these workers, some who have evidence of an old infection and are no longer infectious. Such workers will be released from SHN and can resume work. Others will test positive and be sent to the community care facility or hospital to receive medical treatment,” the ministry said. “The remainder who test negative will be quarantined at centralised facilities so as to prevent any workers incubating the virus from infecting the rest of the population.”
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has also issued a safety time out notice to 20 construction projects where the COVID-19 positive workers had been working to allow for disinfection of affected areas and a review of onsite safe management measures.
“A stop work order may then be issued for part or whole of the worksite once the area where the COVID-positive worker and his co-workers operate, have been identified,” the ministry release said.