SINGAPORE — Panic buying at supermarkets last weekend has impacted a group of individuals who depend on online delivery services to get by — people serving home quarantine orders to contain any potential spread of the Covid-19 virus here.

A family of five tried putting up an order for essentials like vegetables, meat, bread and rice on online grocers like NTUC FairPrice and Redmart, which offer same or next day delivery services on a normal day, earlier this week only to find that the earliest date of delivery was Feb 18 or 20.

They also tried an Indian grocery delivery service, but delivery slots were all fully booked.

The head of the family, a technician in his late 40s who declined to be named, told TODAY on Friday (Feb 14) that they were “stuck”, if not for faceless volunteers who had pitched in to help.

His family was ordered to observe strict quarantine requirements for two weeks starting Tuesday after his wife happened to be in the same ward at a local hospital as a patient who was later confirmed to have contracted the infectious coronavirus. 

The family who lives in the northern part of Singapore first resorted to ordering online food delivery on GrabFood for a meal or two, but soon found it to be too expensive for it to be sustainable.

The technician’s salary is less than S$2,000, and only one of his three children holds a job. The other two are either still schooling or in between jobs, while his wife is a housewife.

But thanks to his wife’s regular volunteering work at charities and family service centres, help came through an unexpected way — volunteers spreading the word through the grapevine of a fellow volunteer in need.

‘WE HEAR DOORBELL, WE SEE FOOD’

These “Santa Clauses”, as he would like to put it, would do their grocery runs for them, leave the supplies at their doorstep, ring the doorbell, and leave to avoid making contact with the isolated family.

“They don’t show their face. They didn’t talk to us. We don’t know who these people who came are. We hear the doorbell, and we see food. It’s like Santa Claus had just dropped a parcel,” the technician said.

So far, four such deliveries were made in this manner, and the volunteers did not even ask the family for money, he said.

Items donated include the hottest-selling household items right now — toilet paper rolls and boxed tissue — and food items such as milk, cheese, sausages, frozen chicken nuggets and drumsticks, instant noodles, and fruit like apples and oranges.

Not only did it serve their immediate needs, he said the simple gesture had boosted his family’s morale during this period of quarantine when mentioning their predicament to others had sometimes brought about panic rather than support.

“Luckily, we have some good hearted people around. If we don’t have these people, how are we going to survive?” he added.

Asked what his requests to the volunteers were, he said: “We didn’t tell them what we want. We take whatever they give us.”

He added: “We are thankful… Once we are out of this quarantine, we will pass on the kindness and give back to whoever needs the help.”

BEYOND DAILY MEAL DELIVERIES, GROCERY RUN NEEDED

TODAY has sent the Ministry of Health queries on the number of people who are currently serving home quarantine orders and what kind of arrangements were made to ensure that the isolated individuals have enough supplies.

Quarantined persons are advised to order fast food through dial-up services such as McDonald’s or from caterers that do “wholesome meal deliveries”, according to guidelines issued to them and seen by TODAY. Alternatively, they can ask relatives or friends to help buy them meals.

The technician, however, felt that his family’s greatest need right now is for someone to perform a simple grocery run for them to sustain for days without the need to fuss over food.

As of Friday, spokespersons of both FairPrice and Redmart said their websites are still reeling from the effects of panic buying, confirming that users still cannot opt for the usual same-day or next-day deliveries options.

Redmart reiterated its statement on Wednesday that the earliest its services can resume to normal would be early next week.

It issued an apology on Wednesday, stating that the raising of the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (Dorscon) level from yellow to orange on Feb 7 had led to demand for its services exceeding 300 per cent its weekly average.

Additionally, the orders also reflected an increase in bulk buys, pointing out that one such order had exceeded 800kg.

MORE FEARS ABOUND ABOUT VOLUNTEERING NOW, BUT NEEDS REMAIN

One of the parties who had donated to the family is a charity group called Free Food For All.

While this is the only family under quarantine that the group has helped at the moment, it sees a hole that it can help fill.

They are asking quarantined individuals to contact them if they require similar help.

Speaking to TODAY, the group’s founder, Mr Nizar Mohd Shariff, said people have questioned: “Why need to give them food? They get S$100 a day from the Government.”

MOH had announced on Jan 29 that two groups of people can claim S$100 per day: The quarantined workers’ employers and those who are self-employed.

As such, there is no immediate relief to the family being quarantined.

Rather than being sour about the rumoured benefits or fearing to volunteer during this period, Mr Nizar hopes people can see that an outbreak “needs all hands to be on deck”.

“We are on the same boat. If the less privileged do not get help in terms of their basic necessities, it will create a much larger problem, possibly social unrest,” said Mr Nizar. “But if the public takes care of their neighbours, then everyone will benefit.”

Some charity groups are, however, experiencing a dearth of volunteers amid fears of congregating in big groups as more cases of Covid-19 infection are reported daily.

One such group is Food Bank Singapore, which usually gets 40 to 50 volunteers daily to help sort food donations but now might not even see three to four volunteers turning up. On certain days, there are no volunteers at all, said the group’s co-founder Nichol Ng.

The amount of food donations had also dropped by half or more, she pointed out.

These are happening as student groups and corporations have put on hold their involvement at Food Bank, she said.

Her reliance on volunteerism is high as her team has only six full-time staff. To tide through the period, she said she is looking for companies that can help distribute the food to the needy.

Another group called Food From The Heart had also posted an urgent call on Monday for volunteers to help pack bags of rations that are scheduled for distribution this week, because 11 of the 20 volunteers needed had cancelled on them. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY TESSA OH