Infectious Diseases (Measures to Prevent Spread of COVID-19) Regulations 2020

No. S 185

Infectious Diseases Act

(CHAPTER 137)

Infectious Diseases
(Measures to Prevent Spread of COVID-19)
Regulations 2020

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 73 of the Infectious Diseases Act, the Minister for Health makes the following Regulations:

Citation

1. These Regulations are the Infectious Diseases (Measures to Prevent Spread of COVID-19) Regulations 2020.

Definitions

2. In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —

“control period” means the period between 27 March 2020 and 30 April 2020 (both dates inclusive);

“COVID-19” means the infectious disease known as Coronavirus Disease 2019;

“eating establishment” means any restaurant, hawker centre, coffeeshop or other similar premises where individuals may consume food or drinks or both, but excludes an outlet for takeaways only;

“event” includes a meeting or gathering of any nature;

“gross floor area” has the same meaning as “floor area” in rule 2(1) of the Planning (Development Charges) Rules (Cap. 232, R 5);

“organiser”, in relation to an event, means a person who is responsible (whether fully or substantially) for the organisation and holding of the event and the receipt of revenue from the event, if any;

“prescribed threshold”, in relation to any premises, means one person per 16 square metres of the premises, computed by dividing the gross floor area (expressed in square metres) of the premises by 16;

“room” means any area within a building that is fully enclosed on all sides;

“specified symptom” means any of the following symptoms:

(a)	coughing;
(b)	sneezing;
(c)	breathlessness;
(d)	a runny nose.

Prohibited events and activities

3.—(1) During the control period, a person must not carry on or cause or allow to be carried on any of the following activities or events:

(a)	any competition, sporting event or sporting contest between any number of people or animals, held in a public place;
(b)	any convention, exhibition, trade fair or sales event held in a public place;
(c)	an organised tour or visit to one or more places or points of interest in which the participant or participants in the tour or visit is or are, for any part of the tour or visit, accompanied by an individual who is not a participant of the tour or visit;
(d)	any public entertainment held or provided at a cinema, theatre, concert hall, amusement centre, games arcade, computer games centre, sports or recreation facility or eating establishment;
(e)	any enrichment activity or tuition conducted for children 18 years of age and below, at an enrichment centre, a tuition centre or a sporting facility;
(f)	any provision of goods, entertainment or services at a bar, public house, karaoke lounge, nightclub or discotheque.

(2) A person who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Limit on attendance for unprohibited events

4.—(1) An organiser of any event that is not prohibited by regulation 3 and is held —

(a)	during the control period; and
(b)	in or on any premises in Singapore,

commits an offence if the organiser allows or causes more than 10 individuals to be present at or take part in that event in person.

(2) An individual commits an offence if —

(a)	the individual takes part in an event held during the control period in or on any premises in Singapore;
(b)	more than 10 individuals are present or taking part in the event in person;
(c)	the individual knows or ought reasonably to know that more than 10 individuals are present or taking part in the event in person; and
(d)	the individual continues to take part in or remains at the event in or on those premises.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1) or (2) shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

(4) This regulation does not apply to any event that is conducted in the ordinary course of business at a workplace or providing education in an educational institution.

Safe distancing measures for public events

5.—(1) Where an event not prohibited by regulation 3 is held during the control period in or on premises that is a public place, the organiser of the event must, so far as is reasonably practicable, take steps —

(a)

where any food or beverage is served for consumption in or on the premises during the event, to ensure that —

(i)	each individual served may consume the food or beverage only in an area that allows him or her to be at least one metre away from another individual; and
(ii)	the food or beverage is served in individual portions in a manner that minimises the time and extent that individuals may interact when eating;

(b)

to allow natural ventilation of the premises during the event;

(c)

for every individual entering the premises, to take the body temperature of the individual in order to determine whether the individual is febrile and to visually ascertain whether the individual displays any specified symptom;

(d)

to obtain the contact particulars of every individual attending the event, before the individual enters the premises, so as to facilitate contact tracing measures;

(e)

to refuse entry to the premises to any individual who is febrile or who exhibits any specified symptom, or who refuses to comply with any measure mentioned in sub‑paragraph (c) or (d).

(2) An organiser who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Special safe distancing measures for seating and queues

6.—(1) An owner or occupier of a public place, and any organiser of an event not prohibited by regulation 3 that is held in a public place, must take all reasonable steps during the control period —

(a)

where seating is provided —

(i)	if the seating is not fixed to the floor of the public place — to ensure that each seat is at least one metre away from any other seat at all times; or
(ii)	if the seating is fixed to the floor of the public place — to ensure that alternate seats are demarcated as seats not to be occupied; and

(b)

where individuals may form a queue or wait in an area in the public place for any reason, including to purchase goods or services or to use changing or sanitary facilities — to apply practices that ensure that every individual in the queue or area is at least one metre away from any other individual in the queue or area.

(2) A person who contravenes paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

(3) An individual who intentionally —

(a)	sits on a seat that is not fixed to the floor and that is less than one metre away from another seated individual in a public place;
(b)	sits on a fixed seat in a public place that is demarcated as not to be occupied; or
(c)	stands in a queue less than one metre away from another individual in the queue in a public place,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Limiting of capacity and group sizes

7.—(1) An owner or occupier of any of the following premises must take all reasonable steps to comply with the measures in paragraph (2) during the control period:

(a)	a place of attraction specified in the Schedule;
(b)	a shopping centre.

(2) The measures mentioned in paragraph (1) are the following:

(a)	the number of customers and other individuals within the premises does not at any time exceed the prescribed threshold for those premises;
(b)	customers and other individuals within the premises do not intentionally gather in a group of more than 10 individuals within the premises;
(c)	there is a distance of at least one metre between individuals in a group;
(d)	where there are 2 or more groups of customers or individuals within the premises, there is a distance of at least one metre between the groups.

(3) An owner or occupier of any place of worship, a funeral parlour or any other premises for the time being used for a funeral wake or funeral (called in this regulation a specified place) must take all reasonable steps to ensure that during the control period —

(a)	there are not more than 10 individuals in any room within the specified place at any time; and
(b)	the measures mentioned in regulation 6(1) are implemented in relation to the specified place.

(4) A person who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes paragraph (1) or (3) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Excluded matters

8. These Regulations do not apply to proceedings of the Parliament or the courts.

Made on 26 March 2020.

NG HOW YUE

Permanent Secretary
(Health Development),
Ministry of Health,
Singapore.

[AG/LEGIS/SL/137/2020/7 Vol. 1]

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