Singapore authorities announced on Friday the stay-home notice issued for the 180,000 foreign workers in the construction sector and their dependants will be extended by another 14 days as a precautionary measure to stem the spread of the COVID-19.
The workers will now serve the notice, initially slated to end on May 4, until May 18, 11.59 pm, The Straits Times reported.
In a joint statement, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said that the number of infected construction work pass holders who are living in premises that are not purpose-built dormitories has continued to rise.
The 180,000 workers and their dependants were now staying in factory-converted dormitories, temporary quarters on construction sites and private residential premises such as shophouses.
According to the MOH, there were 528 new COVID-19 cases, the seventh day in a row where the new daily infections fell below 1,000. The bulk of the new patients were foreign workers living in dormitories, The Straits times reported.
This brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Singapore to 16,169.
Of the new cases, 85 per cent were linked to known clusters. The country has reported 54 deaths toll.
The United States recorded more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in a 24-hour period for the third day running, according to the latest real-time tally Thursday reported by Johns Hopkins University.
The country — hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of the number of fatalities — recorded 2,053 deaths on Thursday, after 2,502 deaths on Wednesday and 2,207 on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the novel coronavirus has infected over 3 million people globally and led to over 2 lakh deaths.