SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s health ministry confirmed on Monday an additional 1,426 cases of the COVID-19 infection, a record daily jump, mainly among foreign workers living in dormitories.
Authorities have managed to mitigate the spread of the virus and the COVID-19 respiratory disease it causes among Singapore’s citizens by rigorous contact tracing and surveillance, earning praise from the World Health Organization.
But the disease is spreading rapidly within the large migrant worker community, highlighting what rights groups say is a weak link in containment efforts. Authorities have ramped up testing for the disease in the dormitories.
Among the new cases, 18 cases are of Singaporeans or permanent residents, while 1,369 cases are of migrant workers living in dormitories.
The city-state’s tally of cases stands at 8,014, with 11 fatalities.
Singapore has the highest number of cases of the disease in Southeast Asia, based on official data.
(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore and additional reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Catherine Evans, Bernard Orr)
