A man who left his home twice to seek permission to leave Singapore while under a stay-home notice will be charged in court today for breaching home quarantine.
Ong Chong Kiat, 50, faces a fine and jail time for leaving home to visit the immigration offices twice as well as a hospital, the authority said in a statement yesterday. He spent a total of about five hours outside of his Hougang home, where he had been ordered to stay since March 24 after returning from Indonesia.
He reportedly went out March 27 and March 30 to go to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority building to request permission to depart Singapore before his two-week, stay-home notice ended. He also went to the hospital on his second outing to obtain medical test reports before visiting the authority to appeal his case.
He had traveled via private-hire vehicle on both days, the statement added.
Since March 20, all residents arriving in the country are to stay home two weeks to curb the spread of COVID-19. This means that they are not allowed to leave their places of residence at any time.
Ong will be charged under the Infectious Diseases Act and faces a fine of up to S$10,000 (around US$7,000) and six months in jail.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 15,641 yesterday after 690 new cases were reported. The death toll stands at 14.
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