Singapore today recorded 1,426 new COVID-19 infections, bringing its total to more than 8,000 in a population of nearly 6 million people. It now has the highest number of reported cases in Southeast Asia.
A little over a month ago, the prosperous city-state won praise as a model of how to control the spread of the virus without lockdowns. Mass testing, quick hospitalization of those infected, aggressive tracing and quarantining of those in contact with infected people helped keep numbers down.
In mid-March, infections started increasing. The city responded by tightening entry restrictions and imposed a partial lockdown and strict edicts on social distancing.
While the number of infections among Singaporean citizens or residents remains low, there has been a surge in transmission among foreign workers over the past two weeks.
Last week, authorities announced they would put all dormitories housing foreign workers — some 300,000 people, mostly from Bangladesh, China and India — under near-total lockdown. In the days that followed, Singapore reported 728 new cases —almost all of them migrant workers.