Workers with symptoms are isolated immediately, even before testing

Foreign workers living in dormitories with high rates of Covid-19 infections are immediately isolated from others if they display symptoms, even if they have yet to be tested.

The Ministry of Health's director of medical services, Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, said yesterday: "We eventually will need to test all of them, but the first priority is really to get them out, make sure they are properly isolated, given the high rate of infection within those dormitories."

Strategies differ across different dormitories based on the rate of infection, Prof Mak said, adding that isolating those who are symptomatic is a key method to disrupting the coronavirus transmission.

He said: "We've also seen in some dormitories that practically every foreign worker who presents to our medical team with symptoms of acute respiratory syndrome tests positive."

Therefore, in these dormitories where the rate of infection is very high, Prof Mak said it makes a lot of sense to prioritise isolating those who are symptomatic.

He said the monitoring of workers with symptoms who have not been tested may mean the actual number of Covid-19 patients in dormitories is in fact larger than the number of cases officially reported by the Ministry of Health.

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He stressed: "It's not an issue of fudging or dodging or trying to hide numbers. It's really a question of making sure that our priority in testing matches the needs on the ground and making sure that we report as transparently as we can."

In response to a question about the number of foreign workers who have symptoms but are not tested yet, Prof Mak said the joint task force managing the situation in dormitories is compiling the figures.

It will provide an update on the figures when possible.

Beyond isolating workers, the authorities are also continuing with active case finding and isolating close contacts of confirmed cases to reduce Covid-19 transmission.