Singapore, Dec 17 (TIWN) New data shows that 152,000 foreign workers - 47 per cent - have been infected.

In comparison, it is estimated less than 11% of London's population have been infected since the pandemic began.  Without counting the migrant workers, fewer than 4,000 people have tested positive in Singapore.  The men, the majority of whom live in large dormitories where several men share a room amid cramped facilities, have essentially been quarantined from the rest of the population since cases exploded in April.  Over the past months, infections in both the general population and the migrant dormitories have dropped to almost zero and authorities have just announced a further easing of restrictions for the general population.  But Singapore's foreign workers - typically low-wage migrant labourers from South Asia who largely work in the construction and manufacturing sectors - still face restrictions on their freedom of movement which will only be gradually lifted next year.  "There is no justification for Singapore to treat migrant workers like prisoners," Alex Au of the charity Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) told the BBC. "Many have been locked in for eight months."