Singapore managed to contain the outbreak in its first two months here, earning praise from around the world. However, the number of cases has steadily risen in the past few weeks; first with imported cases as people returned home, and then with local cases as the virus spread within the community.
Over the last week, the number of new daily local cases remained high, with many linked to foreign worker dormitories.
“The virus has been very efficient at highlighting to us the weaknesses of our societies — that’s certainly the case for the migrant worker communities,” said Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Programme Leader (Infectious Diseases).
He said the dorms exceed all international requirements for space per resident, but a situation like this “just shows that they [the requirements] are inadequate”.
“Perhaps a high-income country like Singapore can do better to protect the health and improve the welfare of people that are so crucial to our society,” added Assoc Prof Hsu.
What can be learnt from the current situation in Singapore is that there is no room for complacency. All countries must be prepared to face a second, and possibly third or fourth, wave of infection.
Dean, Professor Teo Yik Ying said that what has happened in the dorms “is an indication of what will happen in some other countries, particularly the lower-middle income, less well-resourced countries”.
“All you have to do is look at many countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia, parts of Africa — there are many communities where the living conditions are very similar to dorms,” he said.
Prof Teo said that governments now need to look at their countries with “a frank and transparent lens” in terms of what they can do to “minimise the risk of an uncontrollable outbreak where people are living very closely packed together”.
“We need to start preparing the world — even in Europe and America, there are communities where people are living very closely packed together. What happens when COVID-19 enters?”
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