Coronavirus: Singapore threatens those who keep their distance from jail

Text by: RFI Follow

Singapore citizens are now facing jail time if they don't keep a distance of one meter between them in public spaces. A measure that arrives at a time when the nation state, hailed from the start in its management of the coronavirus epidemic, still refuses to contain its population.

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With our correspondent in Singapore, Gabrielle Maréchaux

The roughly 5 million Singaporeans were already prohibited from blowing smoke from a cigarette towards someone, leaving public toilets without flushing the toilet. In these pandemic times, it is now forbidden not to respect a distance of a minimum of one meter with someone else in public space.

The Singaporean authorities have so far been praised for monitoring the spread of the epidemic particularly well. Despite intense links with China, and a very high population density, the small state managed to limit the epidemic to 683 cases and only two deaths, using in particular telecommunications and geolocation to trace all past movements of people contaminated.

But with an alarming increase in coronavirus cases in the countries of the zone, Indonesia and Malaysia in particular in recent weeks, the number of Singaporean cases has inevitably increased. It is in this context that this new measure was implemented. Singaporeans who do not respect it now face up to six months in prison and a $ 7,000 fine.

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• Singapore
• Coronavirus
• Health and Medicine

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