Neglecting outsiders can end in a threat to the general population

Covid-19 outbreaks among migrant workers in Singapore and Persian Gulf states show that if the coronavirus is to be confined and defeated, all people, locals and foreigners alike, have to be protected and treated equally

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Some 86 per cent of Singapore’s coronavirus infections are low-wage migrant workers living in dormitories. Photo: Handout via Reuters

SCMP Editorial

Editorials represent the views of the South China Morning Post on the issues of the day.

Published: 11:22pm, 2 May 2020Updated: 11:22pm, 2 May 2020

Diseases do not discriminate by nationality, race, religion or class. Covid-19 has made that plain the world over, with the rich and famous and the poorest in societies falling prey to the infection. Several governments have forgotten this reality and focused greater attention on citizens than low-paid migrant workers, with devastating consequences. If the coronavirus is to be confined and defeated, all people, locals and foreigners alike, have to be protected and treated equally.

Singapore is a good example of what can happen when there is a blind spot to a particular group in society, whether through discrimination, unintended or otherwise, or some citizens seeking to keep apart from people seen as being too different or perhaps even dangerous. More than 200,000 low-paid migrant workers from less-developed countries like China, India and Bangladesh working in construction, shipyards and as cleaners were living in closely packed conditions in private dormitories, creating hotspots for Covid-19 to incubate and spread.

The island nation’s initial strategy of border controls and aggressive tracing and treating worked well until outbreaks began in the largely overlooked and sometimes isolated hostels; infection numbers soared and a lockdown was implemented on April 7, with 90 per cent of cases now being among foreigners. The explosion in infection numbers is a lesson about the challenges of social distancing in cramped conditions, but perhaps even more importantly, how prejudice that leads to neglect can cause a fresh wave that can threaten the general population.

Migrant workers in the wealthy Persian Gulf States face the same difficulties. Accounting for about half of the region’s population, they are essential to the economy, working in construction, health care and maintenance. But their pay and living conditions are worse than in Singapore and they are not entitled to social benefits.

Those lack of protections have meant they have borne the brunt of the outbreak, through suffering perhaps all but a small number of the Gulf’s infections, losing jobs and wages and being locked down and unable to go home due to travel restrictions. In Japan, foreigners face a different problem; they are perceived as being carriers and hospitals are reluctant to admit them for testing and treatment for fear they will spread the infection through facilities.

Some governments have realised their mistakes and are rehousing migrant workers with social distancing in mind and are carrying out mass screenings and treating the infected for free. But there also has to be a shift in attitudes and government policies towards lower-paid foreigners to eliminate prejudice and ignorance. The outbreak has shown that neglecting outsiders also hurts citizens. All people have to be welcomed and treated with humanity.