WaybackWire

The news as it happened.

The OutbreakApril 2020Issue the Fourth

Singapore shuts down as virus sweeps foreign worker dormitories

Singapore locks down as the virus races through its foreign worker dormitories, India extends its lockdown to 3 May, and Wuhan opens its gates after 76 days.

Marina Bay Sands and the ArtScience Museum lit up with messages of hope on 11 April 2020.
Marina Bay Sands and the ArtScience Museum lit up with messages of hope on 11 April 2020.Photograph by maja kuzmanovic, April 11, 2020 · CC BY-SA 2.0

SINGAPORE, Thursday 30 April.—Singapore ends April under its “circuit breaker” shutdown, now extended to 1 June, with almost all new infections found in the crowded dormitories that house its foreign workers.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the measures on 3 April. Most workplaces outside essential services closed from 7 April, schools moved to full home-based learning, and the Government dropped its advice against wearing masks. “We have decided that instead of tightening incrementally over the next few weeks, we should make a decisive move now to pre-empt escalating infections,” he said.

Within days the outbreak had moved into the dormitories. Authorities quarantined four complexes housing tens of thousands of workers and moved others out to apartments and floating accommodation.

We have decided that instead of tightening incrementally over the next few weeks, we should make a decisive move now to pre-empt escalating infectionsLee Hsien Loong

Inside, keeping apart is out of reach. “One small room with 12 people living together... how can we make social distance?” a Bangladeshi construction worker told AFP.

On 20 April the health ministry confirmed a record 1,426 new cases, the vast majority among migrant workers in dormitories.

The next day Mr Lee extended the circuit breaker by four weeks, to 1 June. Cases in the wider community had levelled off below 30 a day. “To our migrant workers, let me emphasise again: we will care for you, just like we care for Singaporeans,” he said.

Today the ministry reported 528 new cases, the vast majority Work Permit holders living in foreign worker dormitories, bringing Singapore’s total to 16,169.

Prime Minister's Office Singapore, April 3 · Prime Minister's Office, Singapore, April 3 · Gulf News (AFP), April 10 · Agence France-Presse (via Arab News), April 9 · Deccan Herald (Reuters), April 20 · Prime Minister's Office, Singapore, April 21 · Ministry of Health, Singapore, April 30 · Malay Mail (citing TODAY), April 30

India’s lockdown extended to 3 May as migrants take to the roads

Jobless migrant workers queue for food, keeping their distance, at Ramnagar in Paharganj, New Delhi, 14 April 2020.
Jobless migrant workers queue for food, keeping their distance, at Ramnagar in Paharganj, New Delhi, 14 April 2020.Photograph by Sumita Roy Dutta, April 14, 2020 · CC BY-SA 4.0

NEW DELHI, Thursday 30 April.—India’s nationwide lockdown runs on to 3 May after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended it on 14 April, the day the three-week shutdown was due to end. Limited exemptions may follow in areas without hotspots.

In a televised address, Mr Modi said every district and state would be watched closely until 20 April before any decision on relaxing the rules.

He asked people to wear homemade face covers. “Stay wherever you are, Stay safe.”

Stay wherever you are, Stay safeNarendra Modi

For many migrant workers, staying put has not been possible. In the lockdown’s fifth week, journalist Barkha Dutt shared video of labourers walking home from Kota in Rajasthan to Indore in Madhya Pradesh: “Jeera (cumin) cutters who have walked 500km carrying the universe on their shoulders.”

Unemployment rose from 8.4 per cent on 22 March to 23.4 per cent on 5 April, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.

Press Information Bureau, Government of India (text as mirrored by the Embassy of India, Cairo), April 14 · Press Information Bureau, Government of India, April 14 · The Daily Star (Bangladesh), April 14 · Gulf News (reporting posts on Twitter), April 26

Mumbai nurses say protective kits are running short

MUMBAI, Sunday 19 April.—Nurses in Mumbai say staff are working without enough protective equipment, as infections spread among the city’s health workers.

At the upmarket Jaslok Hospital, at least 36 medical workers, most of them nurses, have tested positive, Al Jazeera reported. “The main source of infection today is not the COVID-19 ward but non-COVID-19 wards, operation theatres and emergency departments at the hospitals,” said Swati Rane of the Clinical Nursing Research Society.

At a municipal hospital, about 40 staff were moved into isolation after a patient in the casualty ward tested positive, one of them told Citizen Matters. “We had no change of clothes and the food served to us was bad.”

The main source of infection today is not the COVID-19 ward but non-COVID-19 wards, operation theatres and emergency departments at the hospitalsSwati Rane

The virus has also reached Dharavi, where civic officials said on 10 April that 11 more people had tested positive, taking the tally in the slum area to 28.

Citizen Matters, April 14 · Al Jazeera, April 19 · Deccan Herald (PTI), April 10

Trump halts US funding for the World Health Organization

WASHINGTON, Tuesday 14 April.—President Donald Trump has ordered a halt to American funding of the World Health Organization pending a review.

“Today I’m instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted,” he said at his daily briefing, blaming the agency’s role “in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.” The review is to take 60 to 90 days.

The decision drew alarm abroad. The European Union said Mr Trump had no reason to freeze funding at this stage. “Placing blame doesn’t help,” said Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas.

Today I'm instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conductedDonald Trump

In Geneva the next day, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “We regret the decision of the President of the United States to order a halt in funding to the World Health Organization.”

Global News (Canada), April 14 · NBC New York (Associated Press), April 15 · World Health Organization, April 15

In Brief

Masks now compulsory outside the home in Singapore

SINGAPORE, Tuesday 14 April.—Everyone in Singapore must now wear a mask when they leave home, with a S$300 fine for a first offence and S$1,000 for a second. Since 7 April more than 6,200 warnings and over 500 fines have been issued for breaches of safe-distancing rules.

Ministry of Health, Singapore · Mothership.sg; all April 14, 2020.

Wuhan reopens after 76 days

WUHAN, China, Wednesday 8 April.—Wuhan’s 76-day lockdown was lifted at midnight, and masked crowds filled its streets and trains. Residents may leave if a mandatory smartphone app shows they are healthy; schools stay shut. “I haven’t been outside for more than 70 days,” said Tong Zhengkun.

Associated Press (via ABC affiliate WTVR/abcnews4.com), April 8, 2020.

Start The Outbreak from issue one tomorrow

Wayback Wire · No. 4 · April 2020