Barely an hour after Malaysia’s announcement last night that it will enforce a “restricted movement order”, where Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that the country will prohibit citizens from going overseas and foreigners from entering the country for approximately two weeks starting 18 March, Singaporeans were once again seen crowding supermarkets across the island to stock up on food. Malaysia exports a large chunk of fresh produce to Singapore, including vegetables, poultry and eggs. The lockdown is in response to a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in Malaysia, with 125 new infections on Monday, bringing the total number of cases to 553. The measures were put in place to prevent a further spread of the virus.

At NTUC FairPrice in Eastpoint, a colleague who went down for a look around 11pm told us the crowded scene there “was like people shopping on the eve of Chinese New Year”. She saw a few policemen patrolling the area, we're not sure why — possibly to keep an eye on the crowd?

Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing has assured citizens via a Facebook post that “the Government has been actively working with essential firms such as NTUC Fairprice, Sheng Siong and Dairy Farm International to increase our stock of food and essential supplies over the last two months. This means that we are not in danger of running out of food or other supplies brought in by our retailers”. Moreover, he says that the government has also “continued to diversify our sources of essential goods, for example we get a good amount of vegetables from China and even go as far as Australia and Spain to secure our supply of eggs”. However, he added that although Singapore is currently not facing any shortages, each citizen should “continue to purchase in a responsible manner and to purchase only what you need”.

When we dropped by the FairPrice outlet in Jurong East close to midnight, we observed that people left the instant noodles alone this time. Instead, they went mainly for the eggs, fresh veggies and meat. That being said, we also found the situation much calmer than previously, when the Dorscon Orange alert was first sounded. In fact, it was as our colleague said — this time, it seemed as if people were stocking up before a CNY reunion dinner, as opposed to hoarding food for an, ahem, impending zombie apocalypse. A month ago, we saw people abandoning baskets, groceries being strewn around and a general air of panic. Now, there were fewer shoppers around (the news did come out pretty late at night), more selective buying and what appeared to be less fear in the air.

Chye sim is the new toilet paper, joked a friend. No need to hoard lah — not all our veggie supplies come from Malaysia. As Chan Chun Sing has said: we get a good amount of vegetables from China .

Fresh meat like chicken and pork were popular choices with Singaporeans during last night's supermarket run.

Things were busy at the 24-hour FairPrice Finest outlet in Bukit Timah, too. Police officers were also spotted there. Not that the crowd needed any policing, to be honest — all we and our friends observed were long but orderly queues.