That’s it, no more second chances.
In case you didn’t get the memo, the authorities are now taking their enforcement efforts seriously.
Instead of warnings, they are now issuing fines to people who flout the rules from the get-go. On Sunday (12 Apr 2020) alone, more than 200 compositional fines of $300 were issued.
And you can now report people breaching safe distancing measures yourself via an app.
But it’s not just individuals who are punished when they don’t follow the safe distancing measures put into place by the authorities.
Businesses themselves are being monitored too.
3 Shops, Including Jolibee, Fined For Breaching Safe Distancing Rules
Over the long weekend, 30 businesses were told to stop their operations immediately.
Three shops were issued fines of $1,000 for failing to ensure safe distancing within their premises despite warnings.
They are Putien at 127 Kitchener Road, Komala’s Vege Mart at 125 Dunlop Street and a Jollibee outlet next to Causeway Point.
These three shops “failed to implement a crowd management system”, Enterprise SG (ESG) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said, and allowed “customers and deliverymen” to crowd together.
If they continue to flout the rules, they will face harsher penalties, including getting charged in court.
Two deliverymen were also fined $300 for not following safe distancing measures.
No More Second Chances For Businesses Too
Stiffer penalties for businesses are coming into play too, STB and ESG said.
They’ll no longer issue warnings to businesses and will impose penalties immediately, like fines, when they are caught flouting the rules.
Since the circuit breaker (CB) started, enforcement officers have been deployed on the ground around Singapore to advise people into following the measures.
Unfortunately, while some obeyed, others turned uncooperative and required the police to turn up to settle the issue.
“Some customers even turned aggressive when told to do so, berating safe distancing ambassadors and threatening to cough or sneeze on our officers”
“This socially irresponsible behaviour not only endangers the safety of our officers, but also other customers and staff working at the premises.”
They promise that such issues will be reported to the police in the future.
Numbers Aren’t Great For The Past Few Days
For the third day in a row, all new Covid-19 cases reported are local cases.
Follow us on Telegram for more informative & easy-to-read articles, or download the Goody Feed app for articles you can’t find on Facebook!
On 12 Apr 2020, we have 233 cases with 167 of them unlinked.
7 new clusters are also found.
- Acacia Lodge at Blk 530 – 540 with 15 cases (3 new cases and 12 previously confirmed cases)
- Tuas View Dormitory with 8 cases (2 new cases and 6 previously confirmed cases)
- 36 Woodlands Industrial Park E1 with 20 cases (all previously confirmed cases)
- 85 Kallang Dormitory with 5 cases (all previously confirmed cases)
- Black Tap (a restaurant) at 10 Bayfront Avenue with 8 cases (all previously confirmed cases)
- Kenyon / UBS Construction Site at 9 Penang Road with 8 cases (all previously confirmed cases)
- McDonald’s cluster with 4 cases (1 new case with 3 previously confirmed cases; to understand why it’s 4 cases instead of 5 cases, read this article)
Lawrence Wong, the handsome face of Singapore’s fight against Covid-19 has warned that if numbers are not optimistic by 4 May, they might just extend the CB measures.
I’m pretty sure most, if not all of you are looking forward to the end of the CB period.
And for those who don’t care because “it’s an extended holiday”, just know that things might be bearable now but as more people flout the rules, stricter measures that limit your freedom of movement are going to come into play.
So let’s all do our part and #StayHome, yeah?
You can do your part as a responsible citizen through helping out in contact tracing by downloading the TraceTogether app.
In the meantime, keep yourself updated by bookmarking MOH’s website here and registering for the Gov.sg’s WhatsApp service here.
Or if you’re young, you can join Gov.sg’s Telegram channel.
Advertisements
