Contact tracing, in addition to social distancing and good hygiene, is key to combating the Covid-19 outbreak.
If we know where infectious Covid-19 patients have been, we can track and isolate potential cases before they infect others.
This is exactly what the Ministry of Health (MOH) is doing by releasing a list of places that infectious Covid-19 patients have visited.
The only problem is that it makes everyone panic, especially if it’s a popular spot.
Don Don Donki & Giant Join FairPrice & Wet Markets as Places That COVID-19 Patients Have Been
Covid-19 patients have been doing a lot of shopping lately.
Infectious cases were found to have visited two Don Don Donki outlets, three supermarkets, a food court, and a market, according to MOH.
As you know, MOH is updating the list of public places visited by Covid-19 cases during their infectious period daily.
Only places that were patronised for more than 30 minutes will be added to the list.
Yesterday (30 May), MOH added the Don Don Donki outlets at 100AM mall and JEM shopping centre to the list.
Other additions include the FairPrice Finest store and Food Junction food court at the Junction 8 mall.
Two other supermarkets at Yishun and a market at Ang Mo Kio were added to the list as well:
- the NTUC FairPrice at 414 Yishun Ring Road
- the Giant supermarket at 418 Yishun Avenue 11
- The Mayflower Market and Food Centre at 162 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4
Don’t Panic
If you happened to visit one of these places recently, your first instinct might be to run around screaming in panic.
While you should run around – exercise boosts your immune system – there’s no real need to panic.
See, MOH is releasing this information not because they want us to panic nor because they want us to avoid visiting these places.
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Rather, they want those who visited places to monitor their health in case they’ve contracted the virus, so they can get tested before they infect others.
“As a precautionary measure, persons who had been at these locations during the specified timings should monitor their health closely for 14 days from their date of visit,” MOH said.
“They should see a doctor promptly if they develop symptoms of acute respiratory infection (such as cough, sore throat and runny nose), as well as fever and loss of taste or smell, and inform the doctor of their exposure history.”
Close contacts of confirmed coronavirus cases will be notified by MOH.
And since these places will be thoroughly disinfected, you can still visit them. There’s no need to avoid your favourite Japanese supermarket for now.
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MOH’s list will be updated daily on a rolling 14-day basis, covering one incubation period.
Here’s the full list:
Covid-19 Numbers
The circuit breaker is drawing to a close, and it seems to have worked in slowing down the rate of infection.
Yesterday, 506 new infections were reported, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 34,366.
Only 5 of the 506 cases were community cases.
So the numbers are finally decreasing and things may go back to normal sooner than we think.
