As cases of Covid-19 increase in Singapore, the KTV cluster isn’t the only one growing.
A new cluster in Hong Lim Market & Food Centre has also emerged, causing the entire premises to be closed till 31 Jul.
Unfortunately, the sudden closure has affected the hawkers there, and led to them throwing their ingredients away.
However, a silver lining is that customers have expressed support and concern for them, prompting the owner to thank them.
In a media update on Friday (16 Jul), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said they’re investigating Covid-19 cases among people who worked or visited Hong Lim Market & Food Centre, as well as Jurong Fishery Port.
7 cases in total were found linked to the 2 places as of yesterday.
Thus, they were closed from Saturday (17 Jul) till 31 Jul.
As the closure was announced only the night before, it would’ve been quite sudden for the Hong Lim hawkers.
This was true for Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff.
By Friday, they would’ve already prepared their ingredients for sale the next day.
In a Facebook post on Saturday (17 Jul) morning, the stall said the news of the closure was a “great shock”.
Unfortunately, it also means that their ingredients will all be thrown away.
Incidentally, the stall has won awards for their curry puffs, so it’s truly a waste that all the yummy ingredients will be discarded.
Perhaps concerned over the wastage, some netizens asked whether they could make the puffs at home instead and sell them.
The stall said it couldn’t, due to safety reasons.
Stall proprietor Ray Ng made the same post in the Can Eat! Hawker Food Facebook group, and was also asked whether the ingredients could be used to make the puffs at home.
The netizen also suggested donating them to old folks or frontline workers.
However, Mr Ng said it’s better to throw the ingredients away as a precaution.
Other netizens reasoned that a different licence is needed to sell food from home, and he would get into trouble if anything happened after the food prepared at home is sold.
Most netizens were supportive, saying that they would patronise them after their reopening.
Mr Ng thus thanked customers for their concern and support, wishing them safety.
Unfortunately, Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff wasn’t the only stall affected.
According to Ms Kristen Choong, who runs Ji Ji Wanton Noodle Specialist, a majority of the stalls in Hong Lim Market have had to throw away their ingredients too.
Looks like the sudden nature of the closure has really upended the plans of the hawkers there, less than a week after groups of 5 were allowed to dine in.
Our local hawkers had already been badly affected by the restrictions on dining-in during Phase 2 (Heightened Alert).
Just when things seemed to be picking up, they’ve been dealt another blow as restrictions were tightened again. Worse still, hawkers in Hong Lim won’t even be able to operate for 2 weeks.
They certainly don’t deserve this, considering a Hong Lim hawker was generous enough to treat a lady to laksa.
Hopefully, the Covid-19 cases get under control again soon, and we can flock to Hong Lim to patronise the hawkers there when they reopen.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and Facebook.
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