'Worse than COVID': Bukit Merah hawkers say business badly hit after reports of tuberculosis cases
Mandatory screening for tuberculosis in the Bukit Merah area began on Jan 11 after several active cases were detected there.
ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre on Jan 11, 2024, after tuberculosis screening for the area began that morning. (Photo: CNA/Koh Wan Ting)
Koh Wan Ting
11 Jan 2024 07:07PM (Updated: 11 Jan 2024 07:33PM)
SINGAPORE: Business at ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre fell drastically after news reports of active tuberculosis (TB) cases in the area emerged last week, hawkers said.
Hawkers CNA spoke to on Thursday (Jan 11), the first day of screening for the disease, told CNA that regulars avoided the area as they thought the disease was deadly and infectious after the news broke, and that business dropped by up to 50 per cent.
Stall assistant John Lim, 29, who works at a bakery at ABC Brickworks, said: "I will say (business is) worse than (during) COVID. Because COVID, during lockdown, customers still come (to take away). But for this, they don't even dare to come to take away."
Also speaking to the media on Thursday, the area's Member of Parliament, Mr Eric Chua, noted the fall in traffic at the food centre and exhorted patrons to return.
"I would also like to urge everyone to not avoid ABC market because the business here has been quite badly affected since news of this TB screening came out," he said.
Mandatory screening for tuberculosis in the Bukit Merah area began on Thursday in the authorities' largest such exercise to date. The exercise comes after another 10 active cases were detected, linked to a cluster first uncovered in 2022.
These 10 cases were discovered between February 2022 and July 2023, and linked to the cluster through genetic analysis.
For this exercise, mandatory screening, which is free, applies to those who live and work in Block 1 and Block 3 Jalan Bukit Merah, those who work at ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre, and clients and staff of the Thong Kheng Seniors Activity Centre in Block 3 Jalan Bukit Merah. Those who frequently visit the area are also welcome to undergo free voluntary screening.
The exercise involves staff from the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) conducting door-to-door screenings of residents in their homes. A large tent has also been set up beside Block 3 Jalan Bukit Merah for screening purposes.
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Speaking to the media outside the tent on Thursday, group director of MOH's Communicable Diseases Group Professor Vernon Lee said that more than 1,500 people, or 93 per cent of those identified for mandatory screening, have registered, while more than 500 individuals have registered for voluntary screening.
"The difference between those that are slated for mandatory screening (is) that the potential risk of exposure is higher compared to those for voluntary screening where the potential risk of exposure is lower," he said
"We encourage everyone who (is) eligible for mandatory or voluntary screening to please come forward so that we can screen you and so that we can identify any potential cases of TB for early management and to prevent onward transmission."
In all, the exercise is expected to cover around 3,000 people who live and work in Bukit Merah.
"All of the active TB disease cases have been treated and rendered non-infectious. However, as an additional precaution, we are running this TB screening exercise to identify any TB cases that might be undetected, and in doing so, prevent the risk of transmission of TB as far as possible," Professor Lee said.
"TB is a curable disease if treated early. Therefore, we want to identify any cases, treat them early and prevent the transmission of TB."
He added that the authorities had been engaging residents of the affected blocks and workers at the food centre to educate them about the disease and answer their questions.
