Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has announced that with effect on Monday (20 April), MOM will require all work permit holders and S Pass holders in the construction industry to be placed on mandatory stay-home notices (SHNs) till 4 May, with both dates included in the SHN period.
The Dependant Pass holders of these workers are also to be placed on SHN.
According to MOM, this is to ensure that there is no further interactions between the workers and those outside their residential premises for two weeks.
While the recent rise in the number of foreign workers infected with COVID-19 has been mostly concentrated in dormitories, contact tracing suggests that transmissions at common construction worksites may have contributed to the increase in numbers.
The SHN applies to all workers and their dependents in any place of accommodation, or any place which is converted into a place of accommodation on a temporary basis, or otherwise. It excludes those staying in any dormitory gazetted as an isolation area, or any foreign employee dormitory as defined in the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act 2015, as special arrangements have already been catered for them.
MOM hopes that the SHNs will help prevent further transmission of the virus between workers in the sector, across all housing types.
It stated that Employment pass (EP) holders are generally less exposed to the worksites and live in non-communal premises.
Employers who have workers affected by the SHN are required to make arrangements for these workers during the SHN period, including the provision of food and to take care of their well-being. The workers are advised to immediately consult a doctor if they are unwell.
MOM enforcement officers will conduct regular checks on the workers during the SHN period, to ensure compliance to SHN requirements.
Employers are required to ensure that the addresses and mobile numbers of their foreign employees registered with MOM are up-to-date. MOM will take strict enforcement measures against errant employers or employees who do not comply with the SHN requirements, including the suspension of work pass privileges and revocation of work passes.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily report of figures, has preliminarily confirmed an additional 942 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore for Saturday (18 April 2020), the vast majority of whom are Work Permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories.
This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 5992.
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