Singapore did almost everything right.
After recording its first coronavirus case on Jan. 23, the prosperous city-state meticulously traced the close contacts of every infected patient, while keeping a sense of normalcy on its streets. Borders were shut to populations likely to carry the contagion, although businesses stayed open. Ample testing and treatment were free for residents.
But over the past few days, Singapore’s coronavirus caseload has more than doubled, with more than 8,000 cases confirmed as of Monday, the highest in Southeast Asia. Most of the new infections are within crowded dormitories where migrant laborers live, unnoticed by many of the country’s richer residents and, it turns out, the government itself.
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The Singaporean authorities, it seems, failed to fully appreciate the infectiousness of the virus. Most of the cases are mild or asymptomatic and none so far have required critical care, according to the government, perhaps explaining why the spread among the foreign-worker population was not caught earlier.
Packed with up to 20 laborers in a single stifling room, these foreign-worker dormitories have been the sites of previous outbreaks of disease, like tuberculosis. Residents complain of insect infestations and plumbing woes. Three workers said their rooms had not been disinfected in the wake of the coronavirus, despite promises that conditions would improve.