As of January 25, there have been 367 breaches of Stay-Home-Notices (SHNs) and 130 breaches of Quarantine Orders (QOs) in total.

That's 0.1 per cent of all the SHNs issued (308,442) and 0.05 per cent of all QOs issued (268,385).

This was announced by Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim in Parliament today (February 2) in response to Member of Parliament for Sengkang GRC Louis Chua.

Chua asked:

1. What is the total number of Stay-Home-Notice and Quarantine Order breaches to date
2. What is the range of enforcement actions taken
3. What is the protocol for the use of the Homer mobile application
4. Whether its use is compulsory for all Long-Term Visit Pass holders and visitors to Singapore.

Faishal added that those who breach their SHN or QO may be prosecuted under the Infectious Diseases Act. They may face a fine of up to S$1,000, imprisonment of up to six months, or both.

Agencies, such as Ministry of Manpower and ICA, can also take administrative action, like revoking work passes or PR statuses, and barring offenders from re-entering Singapore.

Faishal said that the government has adopted a range of technological solutions to monitor individuals on SHN and QO.

For instance, those on SHN need to wear an electronic monitoring device which uses GPS and 4G or Bluetooth signals for the duration of their stay in their residence.

Users will receive notifications on said device and have to acknowledge them in a timely manner. Those who attempt to leave their residence or tamper with the device will result in alerts being sent to the authorities.

Similarly, persons who are quarantined are required to don electronic monitoring devices to ensure that they do not breach their QO.

With regard to the HOMER app, Faishal said that it is used alongside electronic monitoring devices. The app uses facial recognition and location tracking to ensure that the quarantined users do not breach their quarantine orders.

Top image credit: Pan Pacific.