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SINGAPORE, August 4, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The city state of Singapore will require some incoming travelers to wear electronic monitoring devices to make sure they adhere to coronavirus quarantines.
Since March, Singapore has required all incoming travelers, including Singapore citizens and permanent residents, to serve a 14-day quarantine or “Stay-Home-Notice” (SHN).
Depending on where the traveler has been in the past 14 days, these quarantine periods are either served at a dedicated government SHN facility or at the person’s normal place of residence.
According to a Reuters report, the city state issues “tough punishments for breach of its quarantine and social distancing rules with fines of up to S$10,000 ($7,272) or imprisonment of up to six months, or both.” The government has also reportedly cancelled the work passes of foreigners who break the coronavirus rules.
The Reuters report says that the devices will use GPS and Bluetooth signals and that when those wearing the devices reach their home they will receive notifications on the device which they must acknowledge.
“Any attempt to leave home or tamper with the device will trigger an alert to the authorities,” the report adds.
Since April, the Singapore government has employed about 3,000 Enforcement Officers to ensure that “those outside of their homes wear their masks properly, and keep a safe distance from one another.”
“Strict enforcement action will be taken against those who breach the requirements of the SHN,” the government has warned.
“The long and short of it is the fight against COVID-19 is not over,” government official Laurence Wong said in a July 17 address.
Singapore has thus far only reported 27 coronavirus deaths, with just over 53,000 reported cases and more than 47,000 of those cases reported to have made a recovery.
Singapore is the third most densely populated place in the world, with a population of almost 6 million and more than 18,000 people per square mile.