As dawn was breaking in the middle of October, groups of young people, mainly women, began to gather in a deserted school ground in Amandoluwa, a small village close to the Export Processing Zone (EPZ), next to Sri Lanka’s main international airport in the capital, Colombo.
They had been asked to do so the night before by police. Almost all of them are workers from apparel factories, numbering around 80 enterprises that are spread out over the 210-hectare EPZ in Gampaha District in western Sri Lanka.
A week before, the detection of a COVID-19-positive case from a factory in Minuwangoda, about 10 kilometers from the zone, had rocked this community of migrant workers from all across the island—a workforce between 36,000 and 40,000 strong.
As the workers gathered, they stayed a meter and a half apart from each other, adhering to physical distancing regulations. Clutching their bags and water bottles, they waited for government officials to arrive. The workers had been asked to turn up at the grounds to undergo polymerase chain reason (PCR) tests for coronavirus detection.
Infected and criminalized
The first batch of public officials turned up at past 9 a.m. Afterwards, chaos ensued. Armed with hailers, officials told them that only employees from certain factories would be administered tests; others were asked to go home or to their rented rooms.
“These women are being treated worse than animals,” said Chamila Thushari, Program Officer at Dabindu (Sweat Beads), an organization that works for the welfare of EPZ workers.
According to Ashila Dandeniya, founder of from the Stand-up Lanka Movement, an organization working on EPZ worker welfare and rights, some workers saw police and military at their doorsteps, tasked with transporting them to faraway quarantine centers. One group got into three buses at around 10:30 a.m. They realized they were moving in circles until early evening, without any idea where they were being taken to.
Others in the same area found themselves transported to a quarantine facility in Kalutara, about 60 km south, almost by force on October 11.
“We were treated like criminals. We were not even allowed to gather our belongings before we boarded the buses,” one woman who was part of the convoy said. She was among a group of 45, including 25 women and two children, who were transported from Leeneyagemulla, a village close to the EPZ, during the night of October 11. The group was transported after COVID-19 infections were detected at a workers’ housing quarters near their houses.
The cramped and shabby living quarters for workers at Sri Lanka’s Export Processing Zones; the country’s garment industry is one of its major economic drivers. Photo by Indunil Usgoda Arachchi
Outside, a narrow alley doubles as space for the shared laundry line. Photo by Indunil Usgoda Arachchi
A few paces separate the kitchen area from the bed, with a small table for spices and condiments in between. Photo by Indunil Usgoda Arachchi
The situation worsened for apparel sector workers, especially those working in factories around the Gampaha District starting in early October. On October 4, the first COVID-19 infection was detected, almost by chance, at the Gampaha Government Hospital.
In the next 72 hours, 1,057 infections were linked to the first detection, making it the worst cluster recorded from the island. Health authorities called it the “Brandix-Minuwangoda cluster,” after the factory where the first case was detected. It had grown to over 4,300 cases by this week. “The exact epidemiological link is currently under investigation,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an update on the new wave.
Gaps in Contact Tracing
Infections among garment workers comprise the sudden spike in cases in early October, based on this graph from data collected by the Health Promotion Bureau’s Live Situational Analysis Dashboard of Sri Lanka as of November 8, 2020.
The lack of information on the apparel factory’s patient zero resulted in apparel sector workers being maligned publicly and government authorities displaying high-handed tactics in trying to collar the outbreak.
Workers’ rights advocacy groups and organizations like Dabindu and Stand-up Lanka have publicly raised concerns about overseas visitors to the factory where the first case was reported. Brandix Lanka, the company that manages the factory, admitted that Sri Lankan employees were repatriated from India but insisted that all quarantine protocols were observed.
But the public health inspectors’ union said its officials did not oversee the Brandix quarantine process. Workers, including the first detected infection, also said that some workers in the factory displayed flu and cough symptoms at least a week before the first positive result surfaced.
Other media reports have linked the outbreak to loose hotel quarantine regime at a hotel close to the zone where a Ukrainian aircrew had quarantined. However no definite answer has been forthcoming from state health authorities.
The outbreak spiraled out of control as the island nation gradually loosened lockdown restrictions in starting in September. In the immediate aftermath of the rising cases, national newspapers blared red headlines about the cluster centered on the apparel workers.
Apparel workers felt they were being ostracized, with some being prevented from riding public transport and going into shops. “From the start of the outbreak, we were treated like we got infected on purpose. The workers were treated like lepers or worse,” Thushari said.
Government authorities complained that hundreds of workers had given false addresses, making it hard for them to do contact tracing. Two weeks after the first case was detected at the Brandix factory, the government enacted new quarantine and safety measures, which include a possible jail sentence of six months and a fine of around US$70 against violators.
Better conditions for workers
However, apparel sector workers say they needed to be looked after better, and companies and government authorities should divert more funds for their upkeep. “The sector is vital for the economy, more so now than ever before, but the workers are treated like termites,” Thushari said.
Both Dabindu and Stand-up Lanka are campaigning that workers get better compensation, factory owners invest in better health and sanitary facilities, and that government authorities be more transparent in their quarantine measures.
Sri Lanka’s apparel sector exported around $5.6 billion in 2019. But targets have been revised to around $3.9 billion this year, a 30% drop, the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) said.
Most factories closed when the nation went into a lockdown between March and April. A gradual reopening began in June and proceeded without a hitch, until the October 4 COVID-19 detection. But according to JAAF officials, costs were already increasing due to health restrictions, global freight delays, and new health regulations even before the local outbreak.
The sector employs around 15% of the nation’s workforce, directly and indirectly, and some JAAF officials are already talking about job cuts in the six figures, something that the economy hit hard by the pandemic, tourism losses, and the 2019 Easter Sunday Attacks could ill afford.
For the workers who now anticipate possible job loss compounded by social stigma, they want a reversal fast.
“First, we want authorities to stop bussing our colleagues to quarantine centers like this,” said Chandra Devranayana, an EPZ employee and a community leader, referring to the government’s heavy-handed treatment of the workers. Secondly, she wants the government to set up “a proper system for safety in the workplace and checking for infections.”
For a government that was expecting to reap the dividends of stopping the pandemic in its tracks but now is faced with a raging new outbreak, meeting these tough demands is a tall order. ●
Amantha Perera has over 15 years of experience as a journalist. His works have appeared in TIME, Reuters, the Guardian, and the Washington Post. He also works as a regional coordinator and trainer for the DART Centre Asia Pacific. He is currently pursuing post-graduate research on online trauma threats faced by journalists and their impact at the Central Queensland University in Melbourne, Australia.
