53 charged with safety breach; all 6 new cases imported

Fifty-three people were charged in court on Wednesday with breaching safe distancing measures meant to limit the spread of Covid-19, the police said yesterday.

The 34 men and 19 women, aged between 20 and 75, were charged under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act.

The largest gathering involved 26 people who were allegedly gambling inside a unit in Geylang Road. They were caught during an anti-crime operation by the police on Dec 1.

Meanwhile, two Singaporean teenagers were among the six new coronavirus cases, all imported, announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday.

This takes Singapore's total to 58,297.

The Singaporean girls, aged 18 and 19, had returned from Britain and were asymptomatic.

All the six imported cases were placed on stay-home notice on arrival in Singapore.

Besides the two teens, the other imported cases were two other Singaporeans, a permanent resident and a dependant's pass holder.

One of the Singaporeans, a 33-year-old man who arrived from Indonesia, was symptomatic on Monday.

The permanent resident, a 54-year-old man, arrived from Pakistan and started having symptoms on Sunday.

The remaining two cases were asymptomatic and were detected through proactive screening and surveillance, MOH said.​

Imported: 6 (4 Singaporeans, 1 permanent resident, 1 dependant's pass holder)

In community: 0

In dormitories: 0

New community cases in the past week: 1 (0 unlinked cases)

In hospitals: 20 (0 in ICU)

In community facilities: 60

Discharged yesterday: 6

One was a 47-year-old Singaporean man who returned from the United States, and the other was a 21-year-old Russian dependant's pass holder who arrived from Russia.

All the cases were tested while serving their stay-home notice at dedicated facilities.

MOH said the number of new cases in the community has remained low, with a total of one case in the past week that was linked to a previous case.