118 at Telok Blangah food centre test negative

Testing for Covid-19 was quick and smooth at the void deck of Block 80D Telok Blangah Street 31, as stallholders and cleaners from the Telok Blangah Drive Food Centre and Market turned up for mandatory swabbing yesterday morning.

The temporary test site was set up after a second worker at the food centre was confirmed on Wednesday to be infected.

Last night, the Ministry of Health said 118 owners, tenants and staff of the shops at the food centre and market who turned up tested negative for Covid-19.

When The Straits Times visited the site, there was some crowding at the entrance as hawkers showed up early for appointments scheduled from 9am, but it cleared quickly as testing began.

West Coast GRC MP Rachel Ong, who was at the site, told The Straits Times that about 100 stallholders and 30 cleaners were expected to be swabbed.

The hawker centre is closed for deep cleaning and disinfection. It shut on Wednesday afternoon and will remain closed today.

Ms Ong told ST that the community has been understanding and supportive.

"I think everyone knows that this is the correct thing to do, and there was a lot of support," she said.

She added that the hawkers were thankful for recent rental rebates.

On further support for the stallholders and hawkers, she said: "We are still assessing it with our grassroots volunteers, and the president of our shopkeepers and stallholders association... So if we can help, we will do our best."

Among those tested was 76-year-old hawker Lim Kwang How, who runs a yong tau foo stall at the market. "The swab test was done quickly and smoothly and I did not experience any discomfort," Mr Lim said in Mandarin.

Another hawker, Madam Ng Guek Eng, 56, who arrived early for her 10am appointment, expressed concern about having to close for longer than three days.

Madam Ng, who has been operating a carrot cake stall at the food centre for 26 years, said in Mandarin: "We are not sure when it will open, and hopefully, there will not be a lot of cases of Covid-19.

"If there is an increase in cases, there will be a need to lock down or close for longer."

She will have to dispose of unused ingredients, such as eggs, which have been delivered. "We will definitely face a loss of income," she said.

Mr Manfred Tham, 31, who owns a fish stall at the wet market, said there was no queue at the swabbing centre when he arrived and that the whole process was conducted smoothly. He added that he expects his stall to be back in operation by tomorrow.

"I was lucky that I didn't buy a lot of stock and sold most of it before the closure," he said.

The most recently detected Covid-19 case at the Telok Blangah Drive Food Centre is a 33-year-old Singaporean woman who is a part-time worker there.

She is a household contact of an earlier case who is linked to the cluster at the Bukit Merah View market. There were 56 cases in the Bukit Merah View food centre cluster as at yesterday.