South Asian family suspected to have transmitted B1617 variant to airport worker, unlikely to be migrant workers

Yesterday (21 May), the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) released a joint statement saying that the initial transmission for the current Changi Airport cluster “could have occurred through an airport worker who was assisting a family from South Asia”.

“Phylogenetic testing results for an initial batch of COVID-19 positive airport workers were found to be similar and of the B1617 variant, indicating that they originated from a common source,” the statement said.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that the initial transmission could have occurred through an airport worker who was assisting a family from South Asia, who arrived in Singapore on 29 April 2021 and were subsequently found to be positive for COVID-19 through their On-Arrival Tests.”

The Changi Airport cluster was first detected about a week after the arrival of the said family. On 5 May, the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported that an 88-year-old cleaner at Changi Airport Terminal 3 tested positive for COVID-19. Even though he has already been vaccinated, he developed a runny nose and cough on 4 May before seeking medical treatment.

In less than three weeks, a growing number of COVID-19 infections linked to Changi Airport has turned it into Singapore’s largest active cluster, with a total of 100 cases as of Thursday (20 May).

Assuring the public, CAAS and CAG said that close to 19,000 workers at Changi Airport have been tested for COVID-19 as “part of a special testing operation”. Ten workers from Terminal 3 were tested positive, however. “The safety of our airport workers and safeguarding public health remain our top priorities,” CAAG and CAG added.

South Asian family unlikely to be migrant workers

Earlier this month (4 May), Minister Lawrence Wong told Singaporeans at a press briefing that Singapore can’t afford to shut its borders as the country needs migrant workers to build homes. He was also trying to explain why Singapore did not close its border to India earlier, given the record new outbreaks happening there (‘Lawrence Wong says SG didn’t close border with India due to need for migrant workers, but traveller stats shows otherwise‘).

“We are small… We need migrant workers to build our homes,” he said. “We’ve already become very tight, to the point that the backlog of applications has been growing… Many projects have been suffering from delays, as all of us know.”

“Some of our housing projects may now be delayed by up to a year or more. So it does come at a considerable cost to Singaporeans,” he added.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) later reiterated what Minister Wong had said adding that Singapore would have been hit hard if migrant workers had not been allowed to enter Singapore after the circuit breaker period last June (‘MOM says border not closed earlier due to need of migrant workers; No mention of others such as STVP and work passes‘, 18 May).

It said that there would have been a labour shortage of 70,000 service sector workers, 30,000 construction workers and 30,000 domestic workers if Singapore had closed its borders last year.

“At the same time, businesses have been appealing for more workers to be allowed to enter Singapore to address manpower shortages,” it shared.

MOM added that the outflow of migrant workers has exceeded the inflow over the past year, and as a result of border restrictions to mitigate importation risks, Singapore has not been able to adequately replace those who have left.

However, as noted by CAAS and CAG, the COVID-19 positive travellers who had close contacts with the airport worker on 29 Apr are a family from South Asia. It’s unlikely that they are migrant workers.

Migrant workers whom Mr Wong was referring to, such as construction workers or domestic workers usually travel alone to Singapore, Furthermore, Work Permit holders are not allowed to bring in their family members as dependants.

On MOM’s website, it specifically said only “eligible Employment Pass (EP) or S Pass (SP) holders can bring certain family members to Singapore on a Dependant’s Pass”.  EP needs to earn at least $4,500 a month while SP at least $2,500 a month.

Furthermore, one can see that no work permit holder is accompanied by family members based on MOH’s record of the imported cases for the time period where the airport worker is said to have possibly been infected.

Many travellers from South Asia not migrant workers

In fact, a cursory check by TOC shows that those who flew directly from South Asia did not compose entirely of migrant workers (a.k.a. work permit holders) only. Many more were students, work pass holders, dependant’s pass holders, short-term visit pass holders, and Singapore residents.

For example, four days before the the 23 Apr ban on travellers who are long-term and short-term pass holders, and who flew directly from India, many of the infected were not migrant workers:

Infected travellers from India on 19 Apr:

• Work Permit – 1
• Student Pass – 1
• Work Pass – 3
• Dependant’s Pass – 1
• Short-Term Visit Pass – 2
• Long-Term Visit Pass – 1
• PR – 4

Infected travellers from India on 20 Apr:

• Work Permit – 2
• Student Pass – 1
• Work Pass – 2
• Dependant’s Pass – 1

Infected travellers from India on 21 Apr:

• Work Permit – 0
• Student Pass – 1
• Work Pass – 2
• Dependant’s Pass – 1
• Short-Term Visit Pass – 1
• PR – 2

Infected travellers from India on 22 Apr:

• Work Permit – 3
• Student Pass – 2
• Work Pass – 2
• Dependant’s Pass – 2
• Short-Term Visit Pass – 1
• PR – 1

So, it’s surprising that Minister Wong and MOM only mentioned about the need to open Singapore’s border with India due to the need for migrant workers and not mentioned the rest.