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COVID-19: Sungei Tengah Lodge declared fourth isolation area

Sungei Tengah Lodge dormitory. (PHOTO: Sungei Tengah Lodge)
Sungei Tengah Lodge dormitory. (PHOTO: Sungei Tengah Lodge)

SINGAPORE — Singapore has declared the Sungei Tengah Lodge dormitory premises as the fourth isolation area to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

According to a notice by the Ministry of Health on the Government Gazette on Wednesday (8 April), the premises of the dormitory along Old Choa Chu Kang Road under isolation are blocks 506 and 512.

The notice came into effect at midnight on Thursday. As of Wednesday noon, there are 29 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection at the Sungei Tengah Lodge.

According to its official website, it is the largest purpose-built dormitory in Singapore, with 10 blocks of residences able to house up to 25,000 workers.

Conditions at three dormitories improving

Three other workers dormitories have been gazetted as isolation areas since Sunday – S11 Dormitory@Punggol, Westlite Toh Guan Dormitory and Toh Guan Dormitory.

According to a media release by Ministry of Manpower on Wednesday, the living conditions at the three dormitories continued to improve, as the inter-Agency taskforce further streamlined mealtime routines and stepped up on the upkeep of cleanliness.

MOM has been working with multiple caterers to ensure timeliness and quality of meals distributed. Portions of the meals have been increased to take into account feedback from the resident workers.

To date, the caterers have delivered close to 233,000 portions of meals and snacks. On average, every meal distribution exercise is now completed within two hours, across all three dormitories.

Stepping up on waste management, sanitation regimes

With resident workers now spending the entire day in the dormitories due to isolation-area rules, dormitory operators continued to step up on waste management and sanitation regimes.

The frequency of refuse collection and removal from the premises for disposal have been increased from once to three or four times daily, depending on the premises. Disinfection and cleaning of the common areas and washroom facilities are being carried out three times per day.

As of Wednesday, S11 Dormitory has reported 118 cases, while Westlite Toh Guan has confirmed 38 cases. Toh Guan Dormitory has 23 cases.

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