Coronavirus: Singapore
New cluster at Bukit Merah market, all workers quarantined
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All 182 stalls in 115 Bukit Merah View Market and Food Centre will be closed till tomorrow. In addition, all workers and tenants there have been quarantined and will be swabbed after the Health Ministry found there is likely to be ongoing transmission among people who work there. The market and food centre is now a Covid-19 cluster with six cases linked to it as at yesterday.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Toh Ting Wei, Anjali Raguraman
All workers and tenants who worked in the 115 Bukit Merah View Market and Food Centre from May 25 have been quarantined and will be swabbed, after four more cases were linked to form a new Covid-19 cluster there.
In addition, all workers and tenants who had been working in 116 Bukit Merah View from May 25 will be tested for Covid-19 as well "to disrupt any wider, undetected community transmission", said the Ministry of Health (MOH).
All visitors who went to the market and food centre as well as to shops at 116 Bukit Merah View between May 25 and Saturday will also be offered free Covid-19 tests, said MOH yesterday.
The 115 Bukit Merah View Market and Food Centre cluster now has six cases.
MOH said: "Our epidemiological investigations have found that there is likely ongoing transmission among individuals who work at the location."
The ministry urged all visitors to 115 and 116 Bukit Merah View between May 25 and Saturday to monitor their health closely, and minimise social interactions as far as possible, for 14 days from their date of visit.
All 182 stalls in the market and hawker centre are closed till tomorrow for deep cleaning, after two Covid-19 cases were earlier detected there.
The four new cases from the market comprise a 50-year-old man who is a conservancy worker, a 72-year-old man who works at a sundry shop, a 67-year-old woman who works as a food stall vendor, and a 65-year-old male food stall vendor.
All four are close contacts of a 74-year-old man who was fully vaccinated and works at a sundry store in the market.
Only the 72-year-old man developed symptoms of Covid-19 - he had a runny nose yesterday.
The remaining three were asymptomatic.
Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Joan Pereira had made a Facebook post on Saturday about the closure of the market and food centre. "We are also putting up notices around the neighbouring estate to inform residents of the closure," she added then.
Ms Pereira yesterday told The Straits Times some stallholders had asked if there are any help schemes that they can tap.
"We are currently working with the relevant agencies to ensure that relevant information on any assistance available can be relayed to the stallholders," she added.
An 82-year-old Singaporean woman who regularly helps out at a sundry store at the market and hawker centre was the second case detected at the market.
ST understands that she works at a different sundry store from the 74-year-old patient.
