Singapore's coronavirus spike sends world a wake-up call

Migrant worker infections turn success story into cautionary lesson

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Migrant workers look out of their dormitory in Singapore during the coronavirus crisis in early April 2020. © Reuters

KENTARO IWAMOTO, Nikkei staff writer

SINGAPORE -- Surging coronavirus infections in Singapore's migrant worker communities have underscored the difficulty of stomping out the disease -- and may offer lessons for other countries.

The city-state earned praise for its strong containment measures in the early days of the pandemic. But on Saturday, it recorded 942 new cases, the biggest daily jump so far. Another 596 cases on Sunday brought the total to 6,588, surpassing Indonesia's 6,575 cases and the Philippines' 6,259 despite a population of just 5.7 million.

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