Coronavirus: 14,000 care packages with cleaning products to be distributed to all hawkers

Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources Amy Khor giving out care packages to stallholders at Newton Food Centre on April 2, 2020. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY

SINGAPORE - A total of 14,000 care packages will be distributed to all hawkers across 114 hawker centres in Singapore to support them during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) and consumer goods company Unilever International will be distributing the packages, they said in a joint statement on Thursday (April 2).

Each care package contains cleaning products, which can be used for cleaning fixtures and food preparation areas as well as washing of cooking equipment and crockery, as well as cleaning guides.

A voucher is also included, which can be used to purchase items such as cleaning products, cooking ingredients and condiments.

The statement added that stallholders will receive three-month rental waivers, with a minimum sum of $200 per month, as part of the Resilience Budget.

The Resilience Budget was a supplementary Budget presented in Parliament last Thursday and aimed at saving jobs and supporting companies as the country grapples with an unprecedented crisis posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The care packages were first given out to 83 stallholders at the Newton Food Centre on Thursday by Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, together with Unilever International chief executive officer Umesh Shah and SG clean ambassadors.

To tailor to the cleaning needs of different stallholders, the cleaning products in the care packages provided to stallholders of cooked food stalls and those of non-cooked food stalls will be different, NEA and Unilever said.

Each care package also contains a thermometer and a log book to help hawkers keep track of their temperature and monitor their general health status.

Said Dr Khor: "Like our front-line staff, our hawkers play an essential role in keeping Singapore running by working hard to provide good and affordable food for Singaporeans. It is heartening to see an organisation, such as Unilever, stepping forward to show their appreciation for our hawkers during this challenging period."

Volunteers from the Singapore Kindness Movement will also join the SG Clean Ambassadors Network and help distribute care packages to stallholders over the next one month.

NEA has also been rolling out the SG Clean quality mark at hawker centres to highlight rigorous measures implemented by hawkers and cleaning contractors to raise hygiene standards.

As of Monday, more than 3,700 hawker and market stalls and 31 hawker centres have been certified SG Clean.

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