April 09, 2020, 04:42 PM
Nearly a week ago (Apr. 3), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made one of his most important addresses on Covid-19 to the nation.
In his third address on the Covid-19 situation, PM Lee announced that the government will shut down most workplaces and all schools, as it puts in place a circuit breaker (CB) to stem the spike in local Covid-19 cases.
Most workplaces have closed, except for essential services and key economic sectors.
The circuit breaker measures were implemented two days ago (Apr. 7) and will be in force for one month (Apr. 7 - May 4).
However, PM Lee said that "far too many public gatherings are happening", even though Singapore is already on the third day of CB.
PM Lee: New COVID-19 cases increasing sharply, must comply with Stay Home measures very strictly
In his latest Facebook post on Apr. 9, PM Lee noted that the number of new Covid-19 cases is increasing sharply, and Singaporeans must comply with the Stay Home measures very strictly.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 142 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday (Apr. 8), an all-time high for confirmed cases in a single day.
Crucially, there were 72 unlinked cases reported, which is also the largest number of unlinked cases announced on a single day to date.
PM Lee said,
"If your loved ones do not understand how serious this is, please try hard to help them understand. The more we take liberties with the Stay Home measures, the longer these painful measures will have to last.
I know we all want to go back to normalcy, but this can only happen if we take things seriously."
PM Lee added that any group gathering in public will immediately be issued a written warning by enforcement officers.
Repeat safe distance offenders face S$300 fine
Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli also said in a Facebook post today (Apr. 9) that enforcement officers will immediately take down the particulars of anyone found to be in breach of elevated safe distancing measures.
This is what offenders will face:
- 1st offence: Stern written warning
- 2nd offence: $300 fine
- 3rd offence: Charge in court
About 3,000 advisories were issued to those flouting the safe distancing rules on Day 2 of CB (Apr.8).
This is lower than the more than 7,000 written advisories issued to those who have breached the measures on Day 1 of CB.
You can see PM Lee's post below:
Top photo from the Ministry of Information and Communication.
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