Over 100 people who visited Ion Orchard turn up for Covid-19 testing at Raffles Medical in Shaw Centre
SINGAPORE – More than a 100 people who had visited Ion Orchard in the past two weeks turned up for testing at a medical centre in Scotts Road on Saturday (June 12) morning.
Long lines formed outside and inside Shaw Centre as people waited their turn to get swabbed at Raffles Medical Centre from 8.30am.
Most of the people in the line said they were getting tested just to be safe. Others, like Ms Aparna, 71, a housewife, said she and her husband wanted to get tested for the safety of the people around them.
“We are doing it more for the others,” she said.
The couple visited the Daiso outlet in Ion last Tuesday (June 8) for about 30 minutes. She and her husband have been fully vaccinated and feel safe, she added.
Ms Margie Ceitom, 39, a maid who was at Shaw Centre with her employer, said she did not have any symptoms but since she and her employer went to Ion on May 27, the two of them decided to get tested on her employer’s advice.
Another man in the line, who wanted to be known only as Mr Ng, 51, said he could not remember when he visited Ion but he received a message from the TraceTogether app a few days ago.
He said: “The message said I may have been possibly exposed to a Covid-19 case.” Mr Ng, who is a manager, added that he was not feeling nervous. The decision to get tested was to be responsible, and to make sure he was safe, he said.
Attempts by The Straits Times to enter the Ion Orchard carpark, where testing is expected to be also taking place, were unsuccessful. A security guard at the entrance stopped a member of the media from going in.
People were still using the Ion Paterson link to get to other malls, or to exit the MRT station.
Members of the public who had visited the shops or used the services and facilities at Ion from June 3 to Friday (June 11) are being offered free Covid-19 testing from Saturday.
Staff who were working at the mall from May 28 will also be tested.
Ion Orchard will be shut for four days – from 7am on Saturday until 7am on Wednesday – for cleaning and disinfecting works after the Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed a number of Covid-19 cases linked to the shopping mall.
It is the first mall in the popular Orchard Road shopping belt to do so amid the pandemic.
On Friday, MOH reported that a 57-year-old woman who works as a promoter at Guardian in Ion Orchard had tested positive for Covid-19.
Currently an unlinked case, she is the third worker at Ion Orchard to test positive for the virus, prompting MOH to close the mall until June 16.