SINGAPORE: Three more foreign worker dormitories in Singapore have been gazetted as isolation areas to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Tuas View Dormitory, Shaw Lodge Dormitory and North Coast Lodge were declared as isolation areas under the Infectious Diseases Act, according to notices by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in the Government Gazette.



The notices came into effect on Friday (Apr 17).



A total of 12 foreign worker dormitories have now been gazetted as isolation areas, including Mandai Lodge, Cochrane Lodge 2, Acacia Lodge and Cochrane Lodge 1.

On Apr 9, Tampines Dormitory and Sungei Tengah Lodge were declared isolation areas.

Toh Guan Dormitory was gazetted on Apr 6, a day after S11 Dormitory @ Punggol and Westlite Toh Guan dormitory were declared isolation areas.



As of Thursday, the cluster at S11 Dormitory @ Punggol remained the biggest, with 979 confirmed cases. The next biggest cluster was Sungei Tengah Lodge, with 351 confirmed cases.



On Thursday, 30 additional cases were linked to the cluster at Tuas View Dormitory, which has a total of 73 confirmed cases.

Shaw Lodge Dormitory currently has 28 confirmed cases, with four additional cases reported on Thursday.



And an additional eight cases were linked to the cluster at North Coast Lodge, which now has a total of 26 cases.

On Thursday, Singapore reported 728 new COVID-19 cases, with 654 cases from work permit holders residing in dormitories.



The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the number of new cases among work permit holders residing in dormitories has increased significantly "in line with our continued efforts to actively test and isolate the infected workers".



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