Singapore’s Health Minister Gan Kim Yong confessed that the government is running low on test kits, and that the government has only tested 1 in 15 foreign workers, since a month ago when the first cluster S11 was found on March 30:
“Singapore has been increasing its capacity to test migrant workers for the coronavirus, with a total of 21,000 workers tested since the start of the outbreak. This means that one in 15 migrant workers in dormitories has been tested for the virus.”
Unfortunately, 21,000 workers only constitute 10% of the total residents in infected dormitories and the remaining 90% are still not tested.
According to the manpower ministry, there are 320,000 foreign workers in Singapore and most of them live in 43 dormitories scattered across the island. 27 out of 43 dormitories have been reported as infection clusters, and this means that at least 200,000 are suspect cases.
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong also defended his ministry after members of the public expressed distrust at the government’s reported figures. There are widespread criticisms saying the Singapore dictatorship is reducing tests to report lower figures.
The PAP millionaire minister claimed that he has increased testing rates:
“We are now able to test more than 8,000 people a day, from 2,900 a day.”
This is however very bad news for Singaporeans, as 8,000 tests a day have generated 1,000 plus positive results, with a hit rate of 12.5%. The 8,000 samples could mean 12.5% of the entire Singapore population is infected, putting the figure at 710,000.
The Singapore government is racing against time now, as about 200,000 tests for the foreign workers are needed immediately, or more foreign workers will be infected by undetected super-spreaders.