Three more migrant worker dormitories gazetted as isolation areas, bringing total to 12

Another three foreign worker dormitories in Singapore have been declared as isolation areas following high numbers of COVID-19 cases reported at these premises.
Based on a notice on the Government Gazette on Thursday (16 April), Health Minister Gan Kim Yong announced that Shaw Lodge Dormitory, North Coast Lodge and Tuas View Dormitory are now placed under isolation in accordance to the Infectious Diseases Act.
This notice will take effect today (17 April).
All the three dormitories are linked to existing clusters of COVID-19 cases here.
Shaw Lodge Dormitory located in Tai Seng recorded four new cases linked to the cluster revealed on Thursday night in the Ministry of Health’s daily update, bringing the total number of cases to 28.
As for the North Coast Lodge in Woodlands, eight blocks have been places under isolation. On Thursday, eight cases were linked to the cluster, pushing the total tally to 26.
In the Tuas View Dormitory, 20 blocks are now declared as isolation areas. On Thursday, an additional of 30 cases were linked to this cluster, bringing its total to 73 cases.
Just a day earlier, MOH announced that Mandai Lodge 1 at 460 Mandai Road was also gazetted as an isolation area to prevent “the spread or possible outbreak” of the deadly virus.
The other eight dormitories that have been kept under isolation include Cochrane Lodge 1, Cochrane Lodge 2, Acacia Lodge, Tampines Dormitory, Sungei Tengah Lodge, S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, Westlite Toh Guan and Toh Guan dormitory.
On Thursday, Singapore recorded its highest single-day spike of 728 positive cases of the deadly coronavirus, bringing the total infection cases over the 4,000-mark. At the time of writing, the city-state has 4,427 positive cases of the virus, 683 recoveries and 10 deaths.
Of the 728 new cases, migrant workers living in dorms made up 654, almost 90 percent, of these cases. If that’s not all, another two large purpose-built dormitories and three other factory converted dorms have emerged as new clusters.
Although the virus spread in the wider community has been steady over the last two weeks, but the number of cases linked to migrant workers living in dorms have increased rapidly over the same period.
In total, 2,689 cases reported were among foreign workers staying in dorms, making it 60 percent of the overall cases in Singapore.