Party's over: 104 people fined for Covid-19 breaches at parks and beaches last weekend

SINGAPORE - Two food and beverage (F&B) operators are to be charged next Tuesday (Feb 2) for allegedly breaching safe management measures, one of them while continuing to operate despite being ordered to close for multiple infringements previously.

They were among 12 F&B outlets sanctioned, four of which were ordered to close and six fined.

A further 131 people have also been fined for flouting Covid-19 rules.

The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) in a statement on Friday said all were nabbed as part of stepped-up inspections by government agencies on F&B premises, malls and other public spaces last week on Jan 22 and Jan 23.

The two F&B operators to be charged next Tuesday are Mark Enterprise and Kim's Place Seafood Restaurant.

Mark Enterprise had allegedly continued operations on July 18 despite having been issued an order to close for breaching multiple safe management measures.

Kim's Place Seafood had allegedly allowed gatherings of more than five people split across multiple tables. It also allowed karaoke activities on its premises in September last year.

For the breaches, Kim's Place Seafood was issued two closure orders totalling 30 days, from Jan 6 to Feb 4.

Another company, Singapore Straits Wine Company, will also be charged for allegedly organising a company gathering at Kim's Place Seafood on on Sept 7 last year. It involved 26 staff and all of them have each been fined $300.

Separately, the outlets ordered to close are Xiao Yao Ge at 350 Jurong East Avenue 1, Main Entrance at 40 Sago Street, Killiney Kopitiam in Lucky Plaza, and Tian Ya Hai Jiao KTV at 2 Aliwal Street.

Main Entrance - a pub which operates with an F&B licence - was found to have allowed its customers to make speeches, allowed a gathering of more than eight people and failed to conduct temperature checks at the entrance on Jan 23.

Under the Covid-19 Temporary Measures Act, F&B establishments must not allow any speeches or recitals by customers.

The Singapore Tourism Board has ordered Main Entrance to close for 10 days from Jan 26 to Feb 4.

On the same day, Chinese restaurant Xiao Yao Ge was found to have seated separate groups of diners less than 1m apart. This is the third time the restaurant has breached Covid-19 measures. It was previously fined $1,000 for the breaches, which included seating groups of customers less than 1m apart.

The Singapore Food Agency has ordered Xiao Yao Ge to close for 10 days from Jan 28.

Killiney Kopitiam did not conduct temperature checks at its entrance and failed to ensure that its customers performed SafeEntry check-ins for contact tracing. It was ordered to close for 10 days from Jan 27 to Feb 5.

Tian Ya Hai Jiao KTV, which had received approval to pivot their operations to F&B, was found to have served alcohol to diners past the cut-off time of 10.30pm for alcohol consumption. It was ordered to close for 10 days from Jan 23 and Feb 1.

Four other outlets were fined $1,000 each and another two were fined $2,000 each for repeat offences.

The breaches included seating groups of diners less than a metre apart, accepting bookings of more than eight people and seating a group of more than eight people together.

Twenty-seven individuals were fined $300 each for gathering in groups larger than eight. The remaining 104 people were fined for gathering in groups of more than eight people and mingling in parks and beaches.

[[nid:503728]]

The MSE on Friday urged people to follow Covid-19 rules during the Chinese New Year period to prevent a resurgence of community cases.

"Last year, we saw the emergence of large Covid-19 clusters stemming from Chinese New Year gatherings. The increase in social activities during the Christmas and year-end period had likely contributed to the recent number of community cases," said MSE.

It also advised F&B operators to check the reservations they received to ensure that bookings did not include more than eight people.

"In the run-up to the festive period, there are anecdotal reports of F&B outlets accepting bookings for large groups and breaking them into smaller tables, and diners making bookings for large groups under different names.

"Agencies are already stepping up enforcement inspections, including checking the bookings made at F&B outlets, and will continue to do so during the festive period," said MSE.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.