SINGAPORE – More than 1,500 people, representing about 93 per cent of eligible residents, have signed up for mandatory tuberculosis (TB) screening in Jalan Bukit Merah, which started on Jan 11 and will end on Jan 15.

Another 500 individuals have signed up for voluntary screening.

This is in response to the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) TB screening exercise at the area, after 10 new cases were detected there.

The screening is mandatory for residents and workers at Blocks 1 and 3 in Jalan Bukit Merah, ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre, and Thong Kheng Seniors Activity Centre @ Queenstown as their potential risk of exposure is higher, MOH said.

Voluntary screening will be offered to those who are at lower risk of exposure, such as those who have visited the market and food centre, or Blocks 1, 2 and 3 for more than 12 hours in a month between November 2021 and January 2024, and former residents and tenants of Blocks 1 and 3.

A tent has been set up at the open carpark in the area for the screening of workers at the food centre and market, while house-to-house screening is being conducted for residents from Jan 11 to 13.

The 10 new cases were detected between February 2022 and July 2023.

Genetic analysis conducted in September 2023 revealed that all 10 cases have a similar genetic make-up as the cluster of seven TB cases linked to Block 2 Jalan Bukit Merah in 2022.

All of the active TB disease cases have been treated and rendered not infectious.

At the screening station on Jan 11, Professor Vernon Lee, group director of the communicable diseases division at MOH, reiterated that the screening is being held as an additional precaution to identify any TB cases that might be undetected and, in doing so, prevent the risk of transmission as far as possible.

“TB is a curable disease if treated early. Therefore, we want to identify any cases, treat them early and prevent the transmission of TB,” he said.

The residents will get an SMS informing them of the test results in one to two weeks’ time. Those who test positive on the blood test will receive a call, asking them to do a chest X-ray at the same screening station later in January.

When The Straits Times visited the food market at around 2pm on Jan 11, several of the stalls were closed.

Workers at a few stalls said business had been slow since news of the TB screening broke on Jan 5. The workers said they have made appointments for the screening and will be heading to the screening station.

One of them, Mr Tan Kiap Teck, 63, who sells youtiao at ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre, said he saw a 20 to 30 per cent decrease in business after the TB screening announcement.

He said the decline in business could be higher for noodles and rice stores, where customers would prefer to dine at the food centre than order a takeaway, which is more popular with a youtiao stall like his.

Ms Nabella Dianti Putri, 43, who works at a goreng pisang stall, was worried that business would continue to be slow.

A fashion store owner, who was preparing to go for the TB screening, said business would usually be very good in the month before Chinese New Year, but since the screening announcement, many of her regulars from other parts of Singapore have not visited her store.

Mr Kelvin Lim, 40, who works at a stall selling youtiao and banana fritters, went for his screening after closing the stall and said it went smoothly. He always wears a mask at work and is not too worried about getting a TB infection.

Mr Eric Chua, an MP for Queenstown in Tanjong Pagar GRC, who was at the screening station on Jan 11, told reporters that business at the food centre and market has been quite badly affected since Jan 5, when news of the TB screening came out.

He urged people not to avoid the place.

“TB is quite unlike Covid-19. It does not spread as easily,” he said. “There’s plenty of good hawker food here at this market, and I’m sure that we will all like to continue supporting our favourite hawkers so that their livelihoods are not adversely impacted.”

MOH previously said that it expects to screen around 3,000 people in this exercise.

There are two TB-related conditions. Those with a latent TB infection do not exhibit symptoms of TB and are not infectious. They may never develop TB disease. However, some people with a latent infection, particularly those with a weak immune system, may develop active TB disease, if the TB bacteria in their body become active and multiply.

The National Centre for Infectious Diseases has said that about 10 per cent of those with latent TB infection will develop active TB disease over their lifetime, but the risk is highest in the first two years after being infected.