As Covid-19 continues to spread through our community, some markets and hawker centres have had to close as cases emerge there.
Starting this Saturday (2 Oct), Geylang Bahru Market & Food Centre will close for 3 days to allow for disinfecting works.
This comes after at least 10 cases surfaced at the market and hawker centre.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, at least 10 stall owners and assistants have tested positive for Covid-19 thus far.
When reporters from the Chinese newspaper visited the premises, at least 30 hawker stalls and 5 market stalls were closed respectively.
As such, the closure will extend to the entire premise from 2-4 Oct for disinfection. Stalls will likely reopen on 5 Oct.
This will be the 2nd time the market has closed over the past 3 weeks as it had reportedly undergone cleaning on 13-14 Sep.
NEA officials apparently told Lianhe Zaobao that the slight delay in the closure is to allow hawkers to prepare for closing and clear any remaining ingredients.
Closing over the weekend when the market gets more visitors will also be more effective in preventing further transmissions.
Many stallholders who spoke to Lianhe Zaobao said they were understanding of the situation.
As cases in Singapore rise sharply, many have braced themselves for closure due to an outbreak of cases.
Diners who frequent the hawker centres were similarly understanding and said there are alternative dining options around the area that they could patronise during the closure.
With cases on the rise, new clusters emerging isn’t as serious news as before.
Be that as it may, we hope contact tracing efforts will continue to be effective in preventing a major cluster outbreak.
We also hope the scheduled disinfection will provide assurance to stallholders and patrons that the market cum hawker centre is a safe place for all to visit.
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.