Jail for man who failed to self-isolate 6 times after testing positive for Covid-19 in early 2022

SINGAPORE - A man failed to self-isolate six times and repeatedly took public transportation in early 2022 after he tested positive for Covid-19.

Mark Chng Chin Joo, 52, who is a director and shareholder of a company called Freeform Solution that provides services such as 3D scanning, was sentenced to a week in jail on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to two charges under the Infectious Diseases Act.

Four other similar charges were considered during sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Emily Koh said: “The July 2022 spike in Covid-19 cases shows that at the material time, Covid-19 had not abated and had remained a global health emergency.”

Court documents did not disclose how his offences came to light but the authorities later received a complaint via e-mail about them.

A Ministry of Health employee reported the matter to the Surveillance and Enforcement Division on April 11, 2022.

At the time of the offences, Chng was deemed fully vaccinated after receiving Covid-19 vaccination doses in November and December 2021.

But on Feb 22, 2022, he felt unwell and self-administered an antigen rapid test (ART) for Covid-19 at his office.

Chng had told investigators that the result came back negative.

He self-administered another ART at his office in the evening the next day as his throat was still sore.

According to him, this result was positive.

After that, Chng walked to his Toa Payoh flat and remained there for the rest of the day.

He had also told investigators that he wore a mask when he was outside his home.

The DPP said that based on the protocols for people infected with Covid-19 at the time, he had to self-isolate from the evening of Feb 23, 2022, to noon on March 1 that year.

He took public transport to his office on Feb 24 and performed tasks including delivering goods to various places before returning home.

He took public transport again to his workplace the next day, the court heard.

When Chng returned home on Feb 25, 2022, he had an argument with his wife because she was upset that he had dinner with his children that day without wearing a mask.

The DPP said: “The accused’s wife then asked the accused to leave his place of residence. The accused then left… and walked to his office.”

At about 8.20pm, Chng left his office, took public transport to HarbourFront and strolled to Sentosa island by himself.

He then travelled via public transport to his office and stayed there overnight.

The prosecutor said that Chng broke the law four more times between Feb 26 and March 1, 2022.