The police have arrested a 35-year-old Singaporean woman for her role in leaking the daily tally of Covid-19 cases in Singapore.

On April 16, 2020, at 7.43pm, the police received a report from a member of the public that the number of daily confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Singapore for that day had been leaked on an Instagram Story post, even though the Ministry of Health (MOH) had not officially released the figure.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the woman, who is a civil servant and an authorised recipient of classified information on Covid-19, had shared the number of new cases for that day in Singapore with members in a private WeChat group.

Members in the WeChat group, who were not authorised to receive the classified information, further disseminated the information before MOH officially released the information.

Happened on several occasions

Further investigations revealed that the woman had shared Singapore's daily Covid-19 case figures with the members in the private WeChat group before MOH officially released the information, on several other occasions.

Retrieved confidential records

In addition, the woman had accessed a government Covid-19 database without authorisation, to retrieve confidential records of a person who tested positive for Covid-19, and provided the information to her friend.

Police investigations are ongoing.

The police statement said the government takes a serious view of any wrongful communication of confidential information and will deal firmly with anyone who does so.

The offence of wrongful communication of information under the Official Secrets Act is punishable with a fine of up to S$2,000 and imprisonment for a term of up to two years.

Unauthorised recipients should also not further circulate the confidential information received, as they may be similarly liable under the Official Secrets Act.

The offence of unauthorised access to computer materials under the Computer Misuse Act carries a fine of up to S$5000 and jail term for a term of up to two years.