One legacy of the hygiene and sanitary practices adopted during the fight against Covid-19 will be the wearing of masks by hawkers and food handlers in the future.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli said this yesterday, adding that he was glad to see this very visible change happening in recent weeks.

“Going forward, this is something that we want to make permanent, and we want to ensure that this will be complied (with) very rigorously,” he said.

Those who fail to do so will be fined, said Mr Masagos, speaking in an interview on The Straits Times’ news talk show The Big Story yesterday.

On April 13, the Singapore Food Agency made it mandatory for workers preparing food and drinks to wear masks or face shields.

Food and beverage operators who do not comply face a $5,000 fine and risk having their licences revoked.

Singapore has been encouraging better hygiene practices in a nationwide effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Mr Masagos, who heads the SG Clean Taskforce formed last month, is spearheading this effort to raise cleanliness and public hygiene levels, and change public habits. He is happy to see that people understand the need for better hygiene.

“Not only because good hygiene is good for us, but because we have to always be ready for new, different kinds of crises in the decades ahead,” he said.

Hawker centres, schools, childcare facilities, eldercare centres and other premises have to undergo compulsory cleaning at required frequencies under new rules announced last month.

These new cleaning standards and frequencies will also be maintained beyond the end of the outbreak, the minister said.

He also hopes that Singaporeans will adopt better hygiene habits when they use public toilets and hawker centres.

“What really matters is (whether) we ourselves can change our habits,” he said.

Mr Richard Ng, 65, a hawker at Maxwell Food Centre, noted that masks can be quite suffocating to use.

He hopes the authorities will allow spit guards – small plastic shields worn over the mouth to prevent saliva from getting onto food – to be worn after the Covid-19 pandemic passes.

“In the past, hawkers would make noise when you ask them to put on masks, but now this is becoming a norm. This is a good thing. People are more health-and hygiene-conscious,” he said.

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