reader Posted June 2, 2020 Posted June 2, 2020 From Washington Post Amid reopening, Singapore to create new housing for 60,000 migrant workers As Singapore took tentative steps to lift lockdown measures Tuesday, with some businesses opening their doors and some students back in the classroom, the country saw its first death among a migrant worker: a 51-year-old Chinese national, who was the 24th person confirmed to have died of covid-19 in Singapore since March. Singapore has confirmed more than 35,000 cases in a population of less than 6 million, a toll driven higher by outbreaks in crowded migrant-worker dormitories. The government pledged Tuesday to create less-dense housing for some 60,000 migrant workers before the end of the year, with more changes to come after that, in an effort to drive down the risk of infection, Reuters reported Tuesday. “The changes will be necessary to better protect the workers from widespread transmission, and to strengthen the resilience of the dormitories against pandemic risks,” Josephine Teo, the county’s manpower minister, told the South China Morning Post. Singapore has come under criticism for its treatment of migrants workers, who often face unequal conditions, advocates say. At any given time, the country is a temporary home to more than 300,000 foreign workers who live in dormitories, frequently with small, shared rooms holding 12 to 20 inhabitants. “[L]ow-wage migrant workers are the hidden backbone of our society,” Transient Workers Count Too, an advocacy group, wrote on its website. Quote
