2 weeks’ jail for man who left hostel 4 times while on sick leave for acute respiratory infection

SINGAPORE — Even though his doctor told him to stay home because he was ill, Chong Tet Choe left his place of residence four times to buy food and top up the credit value in his mobile phone.

On Friday (Aug 7), the Singapore permanent resident was sentenced to two weeks’ jail.

The 47-year-old pleaded guilty to three charges under the Infectious Diseases Act for exposing others to the risk of infection when he could have been a Covid-19 case.

Another similar charge was considered for sentencing.

On April 29, Chong was diagnosed with symptoms of an acute respiratory infection after he visited Summit Medical Clinic in Jurong with a cough and body aches.

He was given five days of sick leave. The medical certificate stated that he was required by law to stay home from April 29 to May 3.

His doctor also explained that the medical certificate was different from typical ones, as it was a stay-home notice. This meant that he could not leave home except to seek medical attention.

Under Covid-19 laws, those with symptoms of acute respiratory infection, such as a cough or fever, will be given five days of medical leave and cannot leave their homes during that period.

On the first day of his sick leave, Chong got people who live in the same block of his Jurong West hostel to deliver food to him.

But on April 30, May 2 and May 3, he left his place of accommodation four times.

On two occasions, he bought food from a nearby public canteen. He also left to top up the credit value in his mobile phone at a nearby AXS self-service machine.

During the initial stages of investigations, he lied to an officer from the Ministry of Health (MOH) that he had left home only once.

He confessed to the other three incidents only after he was shown the thumbprint access records of his accommodation.

Chong pleaded for leniency through an interpreter and said that he had siblings who needed his support.

For each charge, he could have been jailed up to six months or fined up to S$10,000, or gotten both penalties.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, MOH said that more than 35 per cent of patients who were given five days of sick leave for acute respiratory infection continued to engage in activities after the onset of symptoms and before they were isolated.

Of these, nearly half went to work, and many visited shopping centres, supermarkets and hawker centres.

“We urge individuals to adhere to the regulations in place, to prevent putting our loved ones and others in the community at risk of infection,” the ministry said.

It warned that it would not hesitate to take strict enforcement action against those who put the public at risk of Covid-19 infection by flouting the rules.