“It was a nervous weekend,” Minister Ong Ye Kung shared. Just as the nation was grappling with the outbreak of Covid-19 cases from the KTV cluster, news broke last Friday that a cluster has developed at Jurong Fishery Port and all fishmongers from all markets are to be tested for Covid-19. Out of 1,120 fishmongers and assistants who were tested over the weekend, 30 were found to be Covid-19 positive. Much to the frustration of many, the Jurong Fishery Port will be closed till July 31.
A necessary measure. As Minister Ong shared: “Hundreds and thousands of fishmongers and their assistants who visited the Jurong Fishery Port may have been infected, and then went out to the community to sell their fish… And because fish was in short supply, many shoppers, patrons and residents actually went to queue up for fish.” There are 321 cases linked to the swelling cluster as of noon on Tuesday, and more cases are expected to be confirmed at the port and wet markets.
“Generally speaking, if you sell fish in Singapore, you are affected by the closure of Jurong Fishery Port.”
The closure of Jurong Fishery Port has affected a significant number of fish suppliers and market stalls, and also caused some anxiety. However, MOH has shared that there is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 transmission occurred through contaminated fish.
With seafood supplies affected by the two-week closure of Jurong Fishery Port, unsurprisingly, many scrambled to get their supplies from wet markets on Saturday morning. Supermarkets such as FairPrice has immediately contacted suppliers to explore alternatives and boost existing deliveries, when news broke. Additional resources were quickly put in place to receive the fresh seafood as well as manage the increase in demand over these two weeks.
The Next Two Weeks Will Be Crucial
To curb the recent increase in community cases, the announcement came on Tuesday that dining in will be suspended at eateries and social gatherings will be scaled back to two people with a return to Phase 2 (Heightened Alert). This is a setback for many but the good news is that vaccination is gathering pace for Singapore! For the past few weeks, we have vaccinated up to 80,000 a day, and according to Minister Ong, we have crossed the milestone of having half our population vaccinated! Have faith that Singapore will overcome. Meanwhile if you haven’t and are eligible, please do join in the national effort to keep all of us safe, and get yourself vaccinated. Even for the ones who are vaccinated, let’s minimise our social interactions and stay in.
Let’s all do our part. Together, we can.
