SINGAPORE - A man was hauled to court on Friday (Oct 22) after he allegedly exposed others to the risk of Covid-19 infection by breaching his stay-home notice (SHN) four times.

Ang Chenrui, 27, faces four charges under the Infectious Diseases Act.

Court documents did not disclose if he had Covid-19 at the time of his alleged offences.

The Singaporean had arrived here from an undisclosed overseas location on April 17 and was told to serve his 14-day SHN from then until May 1.

He was taken to JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach in Beach Road and was not supposed to leave his room on the sixth storey for the duration of his SHN.

But at around 9am three days later, he allegedly left the hotel without authorisation and returned to his flat in Serangoon Central.

He is said to have met his tenant, Chinese national Zhang Xiaoya, before they went for dinner at a coffee shop in the neighbourhood.

The pair then allegedly went to Nex shopping mall nearby.

Ang is said to have returned to the hotel only at around 11.35pm that day.

He is accused of leaving his room again the next day to sit on a chair in the corridor on the sixth storey between 12.33pm and 12.39pm.

Between 5.11am and 6.05am on April 22, Ang allegedly left his room, went to the ground-floor lobby of the hotel and remained there.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a statement on Friday that on these two later occasions, he returned to his room after hotel staff spotted him.

On April 24, he obtained approval from the authorities to go to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for consultation.

Details about his mental condition were not disclosed in court documents and the ICA's statement.

The ICA said that after verifying an approval e-mail, the hotel arranged to send Ang to IMH by dedicated transport.

But he allegedly did not register for the consultation when he arrived at the institute.

Instead, he is said to have gone home again to meet Ms Zhang.

The pair allegedly went to Orchard Road and then had dinner at an unknown restaurant near Farrer Park MRT station before going home.

The ICA said in its statement: "The hotel subsequently found out that Ang had not registered for his consultation (at IMH) and alerted ICA to Ang's disappearance.

"ICA enforcement officers subsequently found Ang at his home. Ang was subsequently admitted to IMH, where he served the remaining days of his SHN."

For this fourth incident, Ang is said to have unlawfully remained outside his room from 10.17am on April 24 to 12.20pm the next day.

His bail was set at $10,000 on Friday and he is expected to plead guilty to his offences on Dec 3.

For each charge under the Infectious Diseases Act, a first-time offender can be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $10,000.

A repeat offender can be jailed for up to a year and fined up to $20,000.