SINGAPORE - All but five hawker centres and markets that were closed for deep cleaning have reopened with enhanced safe management measures such as access control and SafeEntry in place, said Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu on Tuesday (Aug 3).
She gave this update after a morning visit to Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre, where she met some stallholders to provide them with antigen rapid test (ART) kits and information on Covid-19 Relief Support.
She highlighted the "very high" vaccination rate of stallholders and workers at hawker centres and markets managed by the National Environment Agency (NEA) or NEA-appointed operators, where 81 per cent of stallholders, cleaners and other workers are now fully vaccinated, and 91 per cent have received at least one dose as at end-July.
All workers will undergo rostered routine testing (RRT) every 14 days.
The NEA on Tuesday said in a statement that fast and easy testing RRT has been progressively rolled out to those working in hawker centres and markets since July.
Additionally, the agency and the Health Promotion Board have been distributing ART kits to stallholders and stall assistants, to encourage familiarisation with ARTs and allow early identification of potential infections.
To enhance safety management measures, NEA and town councils have put up temporary barricades at all markets and hawker centres, and implemented SafeEntry check-ins. This would facilitate quicker contact tracing should Covid-19 cases be detected.
All patrons are now required to check-in using their TraceTogether token or app when entering markets and hawker centres.
NEA and town councils will also progressively deploy personnel to assist patrons with check-in at all access points.
"We want to make sure that our hawker centres and markets are safe for the patrons and the people who work here. We want to encourage everyone to get vaccinated, and also when they are here, to observe safe management measures," said Ms Fu.
"This is how we can keep our hawker centres and markets open, and we hope that Singaporeans can come and support our hawkers again."
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