Choa Chu Kang Cemetery & all govt-run columbaria to be open from June 19

Reopening.

Nyi Nyi Thet | June 16, 2020, 08:14 PM

Visits to Choa Chu Kang Cemetery and all government-managed columbaria (Choa Chu Kang, Mandai and Yishun) will be permitted, with effect from June 19, 2020.

A media advisory by National Environment Agency on June 16 announced this opening as well as some precautions that have to be taken.

Visitors to the facilities should remember to wear masks, and maintain safe distancing of at least one metre at all times.

Families who visit in groups are advised to limit the group size to not more than five persons. They are also reminded to keep themselves and others around them safe by observing good hygiene habits, such as binning their litter and keeping shared spaces clean.

Those who feel unwell or are sick should stay at home, see a doctor, and avoid visiting the facilities.

As crowds are expected in the early part of Phase Two, visitors are advised to not prolong their stay at the cemetery or columbaria, or visit during the later part of Phase Two instead.

Families are also advised to avoid bringing along elderly family members or young children.

For cremations, burial services and funeral wakes, there should be twenty persons or fewer at any one time, up from the previous limit of ten persons, while maintaining safe distancing of at least one metre at all times.

Grass cutting of common areas at Choa Chu Kang Cemetery had been affected due to circuit breaker.

Despite accelerating the grass cutting plan with the easing of Circuit Breaker measures since June 2, 2020, not all the burial plots will have had their grass cut by the start of Phase Two on June 19, 2020.

NEA therefore seeks visitors’ understanding to plan visits according to the phased completion of grass cutting works.

If visits have to be made ahead of the completion of grass cutting, visitors are strongly advised to exercise care and caution, by donning protective footwear, and watching out for potholes, cracks, uneven or rough surfaces on pathways or terrain, when moving around or walking within the cemetery compound.

They may also wish to apply insect repellent as a precautionary measure. Safety advisory signages will be put up at burial blocks that are pending grass cutting services.

NEA officers will also be deployed around these burial blocks, to oversee the safety of visitors.

Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images