SINGAPORE - Three men were hauled to court on Friday (April 17) for allegedly breaching orders that required them to stay put amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Singaporean Foo Ching Guan, 32, allegedly left his home in Kreta Ayer Road after being served a stay-home notice (SHN), while Indian national Vardireddy Nageswara Reddy, 35 and Chinese national Liu Dufeng, 49, are each accused of leaving their places of isolation.

Foo was charged with an offence under the Infectious Diseases (Covid-19 - Stay Orders) Regulations 2020.

In a statement on Thursday, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said that Foo was served the SHN after arriving from Thailand on March 17.

He was supposed to remain at his home from then until March 31 but allegedly left on March 29 in a private-hire vehicle to meet a friend in Sengkang Central to attend to some personal matters.

Foo intends to plead guilty and will be back in court on April 23.

Liu faces two charges under the Infectious Diseases Act while Vardireddy has been slapped with one charge.

Both work permit holders were supposed to be kept in isolation following separate orders by the Director of Medical Services.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement on Friday that Liu had been given a quarantine order, stating that he had to be isolated at his place of residence at 45 Genting Road from Feb 12 to 24.

MOH said that on Feb 19, Liu relocated to 14 Genting Road to continue his quarantine under the instructions of his employer.

It added that he did not inform his employer that he was not supposed to be relocated during the quarantine period and also failed to seek permission from the Director of Medical Services before he was relocated.

Investigations also revealed that Liu had left his residence on Feb 21 to look for a bank in MacPherson Road.

Vardireddy, who was supposed to be isolated from Feb 16 to 25, allegedly committed a similar offence on Feb 24.

He is said to have left his home that day to go to the neighbourhood shopping mall to purchase some items without the permission of the Director of Medical Services. The ministry did not reveal details about the location of his home.

Vardireddy intends to plead guilty and will be back in court on April 23. Liu's pre-trial conference will be held on May 8.

On Thursday, two Singaporean men were in court over SHN-related offences. They include Alan Tham Xiang Sheng, 34.

He was the first person to be convicted for exposing others to the risk of infection by breaching an SHN.

Tham, who runs an online sales business, had earlier pleaded guilty to an offence under the Infectious Diseases Act.

He had arrived in Singapore from Myanmar on March 23 and was served with an SHN, which required him to stay home from then until April 6.

Despite this, he went to different places islandwide, including Peninsula Plaza in North Bridge Road and Kampung Admiralty Hawker Centre in Woodlands Drive 71 where he had some bak kut teh.

The other man is news vendor Palanivelu Ramasamy, 48.

He is facing a charge under the Infectious Diseases (Covid-19 Stay Orders) Regulations 2020.

He allegedly left his Towner Road flat on March 30 and travelled by bus to Goldhill Plaza near Thomson Road to deliver newspapers.

Palanivelu had arrived in Singapore from India on March 21, after spending about a month there.

He was served with an SHN and was not supposed to leave his home for 14 days.

Palanivelu's pre-trial conference will be held on April 22 and Tham will be sentenced the next day.

Offenders convicted of breaching their SHN can be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $10,000.