Coronavirus: Singapore quarantines 20,000 migrant workers

Singapore has told 20,000 foreign workers to stay in their dormitories for 14 days as coronavirus cases increase in the city state.

Two dormitories have been isolated: one with 13,000 workers and 63 cases, and one with 6,800 workers and 28 cases.

They are typically home to men from South Asia who work in construction.

The workers will be paid and given three meals a day - but some have complained of overcrowded and dirty conditions.

Although Singapore was praised for its proactive response to the virus, the number of locally-transmitted cases is increasing - and a "lockdown" begins on Tuesday.

Two places are being sealed off - the S11 Dormitory at Punggol and the smaller Westlite Toh Guan dormitory.

The government said cases in the dormitories were rising, and that isolation would "keep the workers safe [and] protect the wider community from widespread transmission".

Workers are banned from leaving their blocks, and have been told not to mix with people who don't live in their room or floor.

The number of people in a room varies between dormitories, but in 2015 the BBC visited a new complex which had 12 people per room. 

Ref:BBC