SINGAPORE - The number of devotees attending the 15th day of the Chinese New Year celebrations at Loyang Tua Pek Kong temple on Friday evening (Feb 7) was almost halved from the last year due to concerns over the virus.
About 3,000 turned up for the Lantern Festival, one of the first large-scale events held after Singapore upped its disease outbreak response from yellow to orange earlier on Friday.
Attendance in past years would be at least 5,000, said the temple's event coordinator, Mr Jeffrey Tan.
After code orange was announced, the temple added precautionary measures like temperature screening and health declaration forms that asked about recent travel history to China, among other queries.
The event was also due to end 30 minutes early, at 10pm, added Mr Tan.
A small number of people were wearing surgical masks when The Straits Times visited at around 8pm.
Housewife Esther Tan, 52, who attended with her domestic helper, said she heard about the code orange update before heading out from her home in the west side of Singapore.
She asked her maid to prepare some masks as they had a long journey on the MRT at peak hour and were going to an event with crowds.
Ms Tan had not worn masks before as she was not unwell and did not see a need to.
She was struck by the lower turnout: "There are a lot less people here this year; usually the seating area in front of the stage would be so packed and there wouldn't be empty chairs."
Bus driver Chiam Bak Seng, 63, made a point of sitting away from the crowds to enjoy the performances.
"There are a lot of people coughing without masks, so I don't want to be too close," he said. He brought his own mask, which he said he would wear if he went closer to the crowds.
Mr Chiam added that the code orange declaration would not keep him away from attending as he felt what was most important was personal hygiene: "I just know I have to protect myself... wash my hands regularly and stay away from crowds."
