Debated in Parliament on 2 Nov 2020.
Miss Rachel Ong asked the Minister for Manpower for an update on the use of recreation centres by migrant workers who have been cleared for work (a) what percentage and how many migrant workers who have been cleared for work have been able to utilise recreation centres on their off days; (b) for those who are cleared for work but have not returned to work, whether they are given a schedule for access to the recreation centres; and (c) what is the approximate timeline for allowing migrant workers to return to their usual social and recreational spots on their off days.
In August 2020, the Ministry of Manpower began trials to allow eligible migrant workers residing in dormitories to visit Recreation Centres (RCs) for social activities, leisure and personal errands. There are eight RCs which were purpose built to serve migrant workers, and they provide key services and amenities such as food courts, minimarts, remittance, barber and telco services. The visits to RCs have been done in a measured way to ensure that the residents and the broader community are kept safe and healthy. Visits have to be booked, and timeslots are allocated to ensure that there is no overcrowding of the RCs.
Dormitory residents may be eligible to visit RCs once a week, if there are no COVID-19 infections in their dormitory, and they have either recovered from COVID-19, or have tested negative within 14 days prior to their RC visit.
As of late October, we included about 150,000 dormitory residents in a trial (about 50% of total residents in dormitory). To date, 20% or 30,000 dormitory residents have visited the RCs. From 31 October, access to RCs has been expanded and all dormitory residents cleared for work are eligible to visit RCs on their rest days.
We will study how best to support the migrant workers' recreational needs through this pandemic, taking into account the risk of transmission due to large social gatherings and prolonged interactions in uncontrolled settings.
PAPERCUTS