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Singapore may place workers who recover from COVID-19 on cruise ships

Singapore may place workers who recover from COVID-19 on cruise ships

#5 Singapore

Singapore is assessing if migrant workers who recover from COVID-19 might be safer on cruise ships in comparison to dormitories that have become coronavirus hotbeds.

The city-state has so far recorded 4,427 cases. Around 60 per cent of them stay in dormitories, where mainly South Asian labourers live 12 to 20 in a room, and share toilets in conditions some workers have said are unsanitary.

Singapore saw virus cases surge in sprawling housing complexes for foreign labourers, recording its biggest ever jump in cases on Thursday, and is looking for new accommodation solutions for hundreds of workers.

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To this end, cruise ships are being considered as they have readily available rooms and en-suite toilets to minimise person-to-person contact.

The measure could be rolled out for workers who have recovered from the coronavirus and tested negative, helping free up space in dormitories.

Authorities are also moving some healthy workers from dorms into public housing, military camps and industrial ships used to accommodate offshore staff.

To facilitate this, two ships owned by Genting Cruise Lines, that could each accommodate up to 2,000 people, were being checked to see if they had suitable ventilation systems, security protocols and infection control measures, the tourism board said.

Talking of cruise ships, they have also been at the centre of mass outbreaks during the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed over 130,000 lives and infected over two million people globally.