Migrant workers in Singapore no longer need special permission to leave their dormitories from today, after two years of coronavirus curbs, but campaigners have criticised a decision to maintain some "discriminatory" restrictions.
Around 300,000 migrant workers, many of them from South Asia, live in dorms in the prosperous city-state, where they are typically packed into shared rooms and sleep on bunk beds.
The vast complexes were hit by Covid-19 and locked down at the start of the pandemic, casting a rare spotlight on what rights activists said were the poor living conditions of the low-paid workers.
For most people in Singapore, strict movement curbs were only in place for a short period, but migrant workers remained largely confined to their dorms, except to go to work or run errands.