2 NUS students caught breaching SHN, reported by school to ICA

Two students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) were caught on video breaching their isolation orders.

In an update on Saturday, Associate Professor Leong Ching, the NUS Dean of Students, said the duo were serving stay-home notices (SHN) and have been reported to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.

Addressing the students, she said: "Being young and strong, you may think that (the virus) will not hit you hard.

"You may be right, or not, but it will expose many others - the elderly, the immune-compromised, the very young."

It was not revealed where the students were serving out their SHNs, but according to the update, the students were "supposed to be in their rooms".

The students may be prosecuted under the Infectious Diseases Act and could each be fined up to $10,000, or jailed for up to six months, or both.

They will also be facing the NUS Board of Discipline, which may impose a range of sanctions, including expulsion.

The board previously terminated a foreign student's exchange programme after she breached her leave of absence and made a false declaration.

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In the same update, it was revealed that another 14 NUS students were confirmed to be infected. All were imported cases and were serving SHNs before testing positive.

In a circular sent to staff and students on Monday, Dr Peck Thian Guan, the director of the NUS office of safety, health and environment, said another two NUS staff members have tested positive for Covid-19.

Both were last on campus on March 20, and the areas they visited have been cleaned.

Staff members and students who were in close contact with them have been quarantined.

One of them has been identified as Mr Hugh Mason, 53, an adjunct associate professor at the Faculty of Engineering.

There have now been at least 18 cases involving staff members and students at NUS, including an employee and a student who have both recovered.

Nanyang Technological University has had a total of six cases, comprising a cleaner, a faculty member and four students who returned from Spain and the UK.

Singapore Management University has at least two students who are imported cases, while the Singapore Institute of Technology and the Singapore University of Social Sciences each has one case involving students linked to other cases here.

A circular sent to Temasek Polytechnic students on Monday evening said a student tested positive on Sunday. He is an imported case and was last on campus on March 20, when he visited the school gym.

The only other known case linked to the polytechnics is a 38-year-old Singaporean woman who is an adjunct teaching staff member at Republic Polytechnic and Singapore Polytechnic. She had been to eastern Europe and has not been discharged.

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.

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