The National Environment Agency (NEA) posted an update on the matter of funerals in Singapore during the circuit breaker period, on its Facebook page on May 20.

In the update, NEA acknowledged the existence of "photos of multiple guests attending a funeral wake at the void deck of an HDB block at Clementi."

NEA said that it would "monitor the wake closely" to ensure compliance with applicable regulations and that it would "follow up" on any infringement of Covid-19 regulations.

However, NEA said that the authorities have conducted checks, and "warned the family and the Funeral Director", telling them to abide by safe distancing measures.

NEA's post did not provide further details of the photos and where they were circulated, though Mothership understands that the event referred to was the one captured in photos from a Facebook post circulating since May 18.

The photos show a group of at least 10 attendees gathered in close proximity.

Funerals allowed, with some restrictions

Attendance at cremations, burial services, and funeral wakes is allowed during the ongoing circuit breaker period, NEA said.

However, there is a limit on the number of attendees at any one time, of 10 persons or fewer. NEA said that this limit also applies to the foot procession send-off.

This is consistent with the Ministry of Health's Covid-19 FAQ page as well.

There is no requirement for attendees to be from the same family, though attendance should be "limited to family members as far as possible".

The number does not include funeral workers, though the number of staff should be minimised.

Safe distancing of one metre between attendees should also be observed.

Sensitivity to bereaved families urged

In its post, NEA also urged members of the public to "be sensitive towards the bereaved families" by refraining from sharing photos or videos online.

It said that breaches of safe distancing measures should be reported through the OneService app instead.

You can see NEA's post here:

Top image via NEA on Facebook.