SINGAPORE - Come Tuesday (April 14), many ATMs across Singapore will be covered with an anti-microbial coating as banks seek to assure Singaporeans that it is safe to withdraw from the machines their one-off payment of $600 from the Solidarity Budget.

Various types of self-disinfecting coating are already applied on the lift buttons in Housing Board blocks as well as on various surfaces in Changi Airport.

These solutions keep killing germs and bacteria and are effective for various durations, sometimes as long as six months.

DBS said it has been applying one such solution on its machines since mid-February.

OCBC has been doing it since early April and will finish coating its machines by Thursday (April 16). UOB will start coating its machines on April 17.

Almost all local and foreign banks in Singapore have also stepped up the cleaning of their ATMs. DBS and OCBC, for instance, disinfect their machines daily.

OCBC said its ATMs are wiped down daily with another chemical to reinforce the strength of the anti-microbial coating that has been applied.

Its Singapore head of consumer financial services, Mr Sunny Quek, also said customers can withdraw cash without touching the PIN pad by scanning a QR code with their phones using the OCBC Pay Anyone app.

UOB said customers with physical disabilities or who are pregnant, as well as senior citizens, can visit the bank during the first hour of daily operations. This time has been set aside for them so that they need not jostle with other customers.

People are reminded to maintain a safe distance of at least a metre when they are out. The circuit breaker measures, which require people to stay home unless they need to go out for specified essential services, will last until May 4.