In first case of coronavirus related offences, Singapore will charge a couple from China under the Infectious Diseases Act on Friday for giving false information, while another man's permanent residence status is being stripped for breaching stay-home notice (SHN) to control the spread of the Wuhan-origin disease.
Hu Jun, a 38-year-old Chinese national from Wuhan, and his wife Shi Sha, 36, would be charged on February 28 for giving false information to the officials of the Singapore's Ministry of Health and obstructing the conduct of contact tracing, which is vital in monitoring the contacts made with other people in relation to coronavirus outbreak, The Strait Times reported.
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Hu arrived in Singapore on January 22 and was confirmed to be infected on January 31. He has since recovered and was discharged from hospital on February 19.
Shi was identified as a close contact with her husband Hu and was issued a quarantine order on February 1, after the Ministry of Health initiated contact tracing to identify those who may have been exposed to the infected person while he was symptomatic, the report said.
The health ministry said the couple gave false information to its officials about their movements and whereabouts from January 22 to January 29 when they were contacted for the purposes of contact tracing.
"Shi had also provided false information while under quarantine. However, the ministry said it was able to find out the couple's true movements through detailed investigations," the paper reported.
Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei province, is the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.
It said the couple will be charged on Friday in view of the potentially serious repercussions of the false information given by the pair and the risk they could have posed to public health.
Anyone convicted under the Infectious Diseases Act can be fined up to 10,000 Singapore dollars or jailed up to six months, or both, the paper reported.
The ministry reminded the public that under the act, it is an offence for anyone to withhold or provide inaccurate information to its officials during contact tracing.
Meanwhile, a 45-year-old Singapore permanent resident (PR) of Chinese-origin lost his PR status for having breached stay-home notice requirements while in Singapore from February 20 to 23.
He has also been barred from re-entering Singapore, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said on Wednesday.
ICA said the man was served with the notice on February 20 when he arrived at Singapore's Changi Airport as he had travel history to mainland China in the past 14 days.
"These notices are issued to Singapore residents, long-term pass holders and foreign workers who have travelled to mainland China, outside of Hubei province, in the last 14 days," the report said.
He was briefed on the requirements of the notice but failed to respond to phone calls and was not at his declared place of residence when ICA officers conducted enforcement checks in the days after his return to Singapore.
On February 23, he was spotted attempting to leave Singapore, and was warned that he had breached the requirements of his notice and could face penalties.
The death toll in China's novel coronavirus epidemic on Wednesday climbed to 2,715 with 52 new fatalities while the confirmed cases rose to 78,064, according to Chinese authorities.
In Singapore, two new cases of coronavirus were detected on Wednesday, taking the total number to 93, of which 62 have recovered, officials said.
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