SINGAPORE- Every morning, seven days a week, busloads of tourists from China would visit Yong Thai Hang, a Chinese health product shop in Cavan Road in the Lavender area.

On Tuesday (Feb 4), the authorities announced that two women who worked there are down with the coronavirus, after exposure to a Chinese tour group on Jan 23.

One of the women’s Indonesian maid has also caught the virus, as has the tour guide who led the group there.

The shop, which is along a stretch of road next to the Jalan Besar Sports Centre, was shut when The Straits Times went down on Tuesday evening.

Chinese New Year decorations hung outside the wooden doors and opaque glass windows of the ground floor shop.

Neighbouring businesses were shocked when they learnt about the cases.

Mr Freddy Ngiam, the manager of a hotel next door, said he hasn’t seen any activity around the shop over the past three days.

“It has been unusually quiet. I didn’t think much of it because it came around the same time as the announcement about the travel restrictions,” he said, referring to Singapore’s entry ban on travellers who had been to China in the past 14 days since 11.59pm on Feb 1.

Mr Ngiam said the area is quiet, save for the many tour groups that visit the shop every morning. Seven to eight tour buses usually come by, each carrying up to 20 Chinese tourists.

According to websites, Yong Thai Hang is known for its crocodile oil that is supposed to help remove scars and prevent wrinkles. A large sign at its shopfront says it also sells cosmetics and healthcare goods like honeybee products as well as various oils that claim to help blood circulation and relieve pain.

The sign also says that the shop exports its products to countries like the United States and Australia.

Other shopkeepers in the area were shocked to hear about the infections.

They said they didn’t know the employees or the owner of the shop well and hardly saw them outside the store.

“The doors are always closed. Whenever a tour bus comes the tourists either enter the shop or some of the tourists will linger outside,” said a nearby shopkeeper who declined to be named.

She added that ever since news of the coronavirus outbreak last month, she had noticed that tourists who visited Yong Thai Hang would be wearing facial masks.

Mr Ngiam said his hotel – Hotel Snow Lavender – does not usually see Chinese guests. He added that he will look into disinfecting its premises and rooms as a precaution.

A 40-year-old worker at an antique shop nearby, who only wanted to be known as Mr Wong, said that his boss had been asking him to take extra precautions to prevent falling sick during this period.

“We already wear masks on a daily basis because we do woodwork. But after the news broke today, I think my boss has gone out to try to buy disinfectant,” said Mr Wong.

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