10 more China nationals on work permit have been caught breaching the Leave of Absence orders, with one of them even going to the casino.
None of them was charged under the Infectious Disease Act, which warrant up to a 6 months jail and S$10,000 fine. According to Minister Lawrence Wong, only Singaporeans will be charged under the Act and foreigner offenders will instead be deported.
Out of the 10 foreigner offenders, six of them had been sent back to China with a permanent ban as they knowingly breached the self-quarantine orders and even feigned ignorance of the law. Three were given “stern warning” because they were forced by their employers to work, and the last one was warned for staying out of his resident after having a meal outside.
The three businesses which demanded their workers work during LOA had been banned from hiring foreigners for 3 years.
There are now a total of 14 LOA breaches, all offenders are China nationals.
The LOA scheme has been scrapped after the government realised there is a loophole which allows quarantined persons to go out for meals and shopping. The LOA is replaced with the Stay-Home notice, where the quarantined will not be allowed to leave his residence at all for 14 days.
According to Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, 30,000 China nationals on work permits will be returning to Singapore. The PAP minister said she is approving about 200 applications a day. The workers are allowed back despite the risk of infection because each foreign worker pays S$700 a month in levy to the government.