Hawker Centre Suffers After a Person with COVID-19 Visited It Daily

MOH has said this repeatedly: when they released the list of places that a COVID-19 has been to, it’s not meant to advise you to avoid the places. If not, Singapore would look more like we’re in Circuit Breaker mode instead of Phase 2 mode.

Instead, the list is included to update people who’ve once been to those places during those specific timings to monitor their health lest they got infected.

Here’s the latest list:

This list, updated yesterday night, is similar to the last one published two days ago.

But of course one can’t help but to notice this:

Yes, someone’s been to Jalan Batu Food Centre near Mountbatten Road for daily for ten days between 12pm and 1pm, from 14 Aug to 23 Aug.

It might have been more days as any dates before 14 August aren’t in the MOH list, since 14 days would’ve passed since the patient visited the area.

Last I know, malls are still packed with people even after COVID-19 patients have been the places before.

But not this hawker centre.

According to TODAYonline, some hawkers are seeing a dip in sales since the list was announced.

Some of them believe that their regulars have stopped coming since the hawker centre was added in the list since most of their regulars are seniors who had to take extra precautions.

For example, a Muslim food stall used to have more than 20 customers a day and would call it a day by 2pm; yesterday (28 Aug), they had just seen fewer than 5 customers at 2pm.

Another hawker, Mr Boo Hua Kee from Hua Kee Hougang Famous Wanton Mee, is even in the 2019 Michelin Singapore guide of the world’s best eateries with a score of one Michelin plate, but that didn’t help. For him, he said that sales have dropped by about 30%.

And so, here’s MOH’s advisory again: “There is no need to avoid places where confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been. The National Environment Agency will engage the management of affected premises to provide guidance on cleaning and disinfection.”

Cleaning, Cleaning and More Cleaning

Still not convinced?

The MP for that area, Mr Lim Biow Chuan, has also come out to show us images of the cleaning process:

When news of the hawker centre being visited by a patron daily broke, Mr Lim also asked the Town Council cleaners to step up the cleaning of the hawker centre.