Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Thank you, Mdm Deputy Speaker. I thank the Minister for the round-up. A quick question on an issue which some Members brought up, which is foreign workers who are currently still in the dormitories. I understand they get to go to certain facilities within a closed-off area in the dormitory for rest and recreation.
Is there also a roadmap for them when they can also be re-integrated into the larger community? They have been, as we know, locked down for a long time.
Mr Lawrence Wong: Thank you, Mr Pritam Singh, for this question. It is also a question raised by Mr Louis Ng and Mr Mohd Fahmi.
I did not elaborate on this in my speech, but just to say that we are very, very mindful of the mental well-being of these workers. We know that they have been subject to these restrictions for quite a long time. For now, the concern is that because of the large clusters that we are seeing in our community, we are quite worried about how they might catch the virus if they were to go out.
Having said that, the vaccination rates amongst migrant workers in the dorms are now very high and it is getting higher. We are, indeed, looking at two things. Number one, giving more allowance in the initial, very near term, something that we are doing, but will do more for them to go to the recreational centres, spend more time there. But, indeed, we are looking at allowing them to have the time to be out in the community as well. That is something that the MTF is looking at.
27 July 2021
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/sprs3topic?reportid=ministerial-statement-1705
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 