TraceTogether check-in a must at all wet markets, hawker centres
Visitors to wet markets and hawker centres will be required to check in with their TraceTogether app or token as part of tighter measures to stem Covid-19 infection, which has so far spread to 28 markets and food centres.
The cases at those places, linked to the Jurong Fishery Port cluster, continue to rise, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung at a virtual press conference yesterday.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 182 new cases of locally transmitted Covid-19 infection yesterday.
Of these, 142 are linked to the Jurong Fishery Port cluster and 14 to the KTV cluster.
"So slightly higher than yesterday. So that is the not-so-good part," Mr Ong said of the numbers.
But the silver lining is that the rate of growth has slowed and that a higher proportion of new cases would have been isolated before detection, he added.
In the coming weeks, TraceTogether-only SafeEntry and SafeEntry Gateway check-in requirements will be rolled out at all wet markets and hawker centres islandwide to help with contact tracing, MOH said.
Plans for SafeEntry check-in requirements were initially restricted to just markets with coronavirus cases.
MOH had said on Sunday that the National Environment Agency and town councils would progressively implement access control with interim fencing and SafeEntry check-in at these markets.
At yesterday's press conference, in response to a question on whether all wet markets will be closed to curb virus transmission, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said the closure of a market would funnel people towards other markets and cause crowding.
"If we were to close all markets, again, where will people crowd? They may crowd at supermarkets. And if they crowd at supermarkets, will cryptic transmission happen there too?
"So this has always been a challenge we have had with food outlets, particularly markets and supermarkets, because the concern that people may have is that there is going to be a shortage and therefore (they would feel they) must go out and buy."
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