SINGAPORE - Eight food and beverage outlets have been ordered to close, while 22 eateries and 59 people have been fined for flouting Covid-19 safe distancing rules, the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment said on Friday (Aug 20).
The eight eateries were ordered to close for between 10 and 20 days for breaching multiple safe management measures.
These included allowing liquor consumption past 10.30pm and failing to ensure a safe distance of at least 1m between groups of customers.
The outlets included the Aloha Poke Bistro and Arteastiq tea house in Jewel Changi Airport.
The 22 outlets were fined between $1,000 and $4,000 each for breaching measures such as failing to ensure a 1m distance between seated customers. These places included the Ya Kun Kaya Toast outlets at Marina Square and Lot One.
The 59 people were fined between $300 and $1,000 for breaches such as gathering in groups larger than the allowed number while dining at eateries or failing to wear a mask when not eating or drinking.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said safe distancing enforcement officers from several government agencies conducted checks last weekend on more than 700 eateries and over 2,000 people to ensure compliance with the vaccination-differentiated safe management measures.
During the enforcement checks, at least five operators were found to have breached the vaccination differentiated requirements. They had failed to check the vaccination status of patrons before letting them enter the outlets.
Nine patrons were found to have dined in without a cleared status - most of them had completed the second dose of the vaccine but had not waited two weeks for the vaccine to take effect.
As this was the first week of implementing the vaccination-differentiated measures, operators and patrons were given allowance to adjust to the new measures, with warnings issued, MSE said in a press release. No patrons were found to have falsified their vaccination status.
Checks will be stepped up to ensure that vaccination-differentiated requirements at food and beverage premises are adhered to, said MSE.
"Starting this weekend, strict enforcement action will be taken against operators and individuals who flout (these measures)," the ministry added.
Operators who fail to check patrons' vaccination status before granting them entry could be fined or ordered to close. Patrons who falsify their vaccination status to dine at food and beverage outlets could be fined, jailed, or both.
