SINGAPORE: An Indian restaurant in Singapore has started serving hot meals and beverages to frontline medical workers in the city-state amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a media report said on Tuesday. The popular vegetarian restaurant Mavalli Tiffin Rooms is serving up Indian snacks like vadai, a savoury fried snack, coffee and masala tea, said the Straits Times report.
Operations director Raghavendra Shastry and his staff were also preparing packets of fruits to send to hospitals. The restaurant is still operational during the ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown for takeaway and delivery services.
“Dry snacks such as biscuits and sweets are readily available to the front-liners in hospitals. But the hot snacks and coffee we deliver can complement these snacks and help keep the medical fraternity going,” said Shastry, who is originally from Bengaluru, Karnataka. The first set of goodies was sent to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases on April 17.
Deliveries were now being made twice a week to various hospitals across Singapore and will continue until at least June 1. On Tuesday, Shastry was joined at the restaurant’s kitchen by the Indian High Commissioner to Singapore, Jawed Ashraf, who spent the morning assisting with the packing of goods for the day’s deliveries, the Straits Times report added.
Thanking the workers, Ashraf said: “No amount of what we do for them is enough to express the appreciation that we have for their commitment, their courage and their selflessness. They are the ones who give us hope and confidence.”
The Ministry of Health has confirmed 884 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore as of Tuesday, taking the total count to 24,671. Among these, migrant workers living in dormitories form the bulk of the cases.
The death toll currently stands at 21.
