While many members of the public donned on masks for their market visits and shifted their marketing hours to before 7:00am to avoid the morning crowds, patrons are encouraged to further adjust to make market visits once a week, preferably on weekdays and at non-peak period between 10:00am to 12:00pm on weekends, where fresh produce is still available.
Singapore, 12 April 2020 – With the implementation of stiffer penalties for breach of safe distancing measures from 12 April, 30 fines of $300 were issued to members of the public for non-compliance of safe distancing measures at or near markets and hawker centres today.
Enforcement of safe distancing at hawker centres
2 The National Environment Agency (NEA) deployed about 380 enforcement officers today to ensure that members of the public comply with safe distancing measures at or near markets and cooked food sections of hawker centres. Separately, more than 190 SG Clean Ambassadors were also deployed to remind members of the public that eating and drinking, or any form of loitering, are not allowed at or near the cooked food sections of hawker centres.
3 Since the long weekend started on 10 April, a total of 32 fines and 120 written warnings were issued over three days to members of the public for non-compliance with safe distancing measures at or near the markets and cooked food sections of hawker centres. Police assistance was also required for about 28 cases, where members of the public were not cooperative when asked to comply with safe distancing measures implemented at hawker centres. Any member of the public found in breach of safe distancing measures will face a fine of $300 on the first offence. Repeat offenders will face higher fines, or prosecution in court for egregious cases.
Improvements observed over the long weekend, but large crowds still observed at a few popular markets
4 On 12 April 2020, a vast majority of patrons to the markets were seen to be donning masks. Over the course of the long weekend, adherence to safe distancing requirements remained high and the queues that formed outside popular markets became more orderly and manageable as the weekend progressed, with the overall crowds at markets thinning about 50% from Friday to Sunday.
5 However, the overall weekend crowd, especially on Friday, was still large at a few hotspots where popular markets are located. These include the markets at Geylang Serai, Block 505 Jurong West Street 52, Block 104/105 Yishun Ring Road and Block 20/21 Marsiling Lane. At their peak, queues of more than 100 people could be seen at these markets, with some of the queues starting as early as before 7:00am.
Patrons urged to make further adjustments to their marketing hours
6 We have also observed that many patrons have heeded our earlier advice to adjust their marketing hours. Queues have started to form earlier at some of these popular markets between 6:00 am to 7:00am, while the peak hours at the markets usually start from 7.00am onwards. This is an encouraging development, as it evens out the crowds at markets across the day and week, and is critical in ensuring that safe distancing measures remain effective. We continue to strongly urge members of the public to make further adjustments and patronise markets during weekdays, or at the non-peak period between 10:00am to12:00pm on weekends. The crowd at markets after 10:00am is at least 50 per cent less than the earlier peak hours, and fresh produce continues to be available in markets up till noon.
7 The health of all depends on each and everyone of us working together. Members of the public are urged to take safe distancing measures at markets and hawker centres seriously. We are monitoring the situation closely and may take stronger measures if the crowd situation does not improve, to help support the current circuit breaker and halt the transmission of COVID-19 in Singapore.
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