A maximum of 3,000 fully vaccinated workers are allowed out into the wider community each weekday, with double that number able to visit public places on weekends and holidays. Most of the men work six days a week.Such a controlled existence is in stark contrast to the lives of other Singapore residents for whom life is finally returning to some sort of normality as the country moves towards “living with COVID-19”.
When COVID-19 first arrived in Singapore some two years ago, the government managed to keep control of the situation through a meticulous contact tracing system. The country stayed open, with just relatively minor restrictions imposed. Many of the men work as manual labourers in the kind of physically demanding jobs that Singaporeans prefer not to do.The government does not provide a breakdown of their nationalities, but most come from South Asia.