Testing starts for those who were at Bukit Merah supermarket

Covid-19 testing for staff and members of the public who had been to the FairPrice supermarket at 166 Bukit Merah Central appeared to be running smoothly yesterday morning.

A temporary testing site was set up at Block 125A Bukit Merah View after a number of Covid-19 cases were found among people who had visited the supermarket, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Monday night.

The testing for those who work there or had visited the outlet between June 3 and Monday is to break any possible chains of transmission, MOH said.

When The Straits Times (ST) visited at about 10am yesterday, there were no queues and people were leaving the testing site after their swabs in an orderly manner.

A group of workers who said they were from FairPrice told ST that they were asked to go for the swab test yesterday despite having already been swabbed last Saturday. They declined to be named.

They added that they were not particularly worried about Covid-19 cases having visited the supermarket, but had gone for the tests as part of the company's directives.

Other people were more anxious and wanted to get tested for peace of mind.

Madam Lee Cheng Toh, 61, told ST in Mandarin that she felt compelled to get tested as she visits the FairPrice outlet every Monday to buy groceries.

In addition, she had visited the Bukit Merah View Market and Food Centre, also linked to a Covid-19 outbreak, earlier this month.

"Though I had not received any SMS telling me to get tested, I was still a little worried," said Madam Lee, a designer.

The market was closed for cleaning and disinfection on June 13 and is expected to reopen on Saturday.

A total of 81 cases have been linked to the Bukit Merah market cluster.

Most people who got tested told ST that they wanted to do so as a precautionary measure, after having visited the FairPrice supermarket during the window period.

The testing site will be open till tomorrow. Those who want to be tested will be required to make an appointment.

Mandatory testing also began at four testing sites in Redhill Lane and Redhill Close on Monday, after viral fragments were detected in wastewater samples collected from some Housing Board blocks there.

The affected blocks are 81, 82 and 83 Redhill Lane and 87, 88, 89 and 90 Redhill Close.

Testing is optional for those who have tested negative for Covid-19 since last Friday, MOH said.

When ST visited the testing site at Block 89 Redhill Close at about 11am, no queues were seen.

Retiree Catherine Lim, 87, had received a call to go for testing, and took her test at 10am. The process was smooth, though the swab itself was quite uncomfortable, she told ST in Mandarin.

Madam Lim lives in Block 90, opposite the testing centre.

Asked if she was worried about receiving a positive test result, she said, half in jest, that she did not want to fall ill as she still has money she wants to spend and things she would like to do.

Most of the residents ST spoke to said they were tested on Monday, after testing began at about 1pm. Many had since received negative test results.

One of them was Mr Calvin Teo, 67, who lives in Block 89.

The retiree, who used to work in sales and in a hardware store, told ST in Mandarin: "I'm not very scared about the situation, as I think the community is generally quite safe. But it's good to be tested just to be sure."

He also said that many residents of Redhill Close were elderly, living alone and had trouble understanding the SMSes notifying them of their negative test results.

He said he helped to read and explain the messages to some of them.

One of these residents was retired bus driver Chan Yew Fong, 75, who learnt only yesterday morning that his test result was negative, even though he received the results on Monday night.

He told ST that he felt reassured, though he was not really worried about the Covid-19 situation as he had already received both doses of the vaccine.