2 Indians fined for violating Covid regulations in Singapore: Report

Singapore, April 6

Two young Indian nationals were among the four men who were fined 1,500 Singaporean dollars each for breaching Covid regulations during a New Year’s Eve gathering in the country last year, a media report said on Wednesday.

Shyama Kumar Sharath, 21, and Ateesh Ashutosh Rao, 22, along with Chinese origin Kevan Loh Wei Kang, 22, and Declan Goh, 23, each pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of failing to keep a 1m distance from others in the crowd during the gathering at Clarke Quay, a downtown riverside nightlife F&B settings, The Straits Times reported.

Rao and Sharath were part of a group of nine celebrating the New Year, despite being not allowed to gather in groups larger than five.

During the festivities, Rao and Sharath did not keep a 1 m distance from others in the crowd, the report said.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Wu Yu Jie told the court that the four men were deliberately non-compliant.

“This was a blatant breach of the measures put in place to curb the transmission of Covid,” Wu said.

Apart from Rao and Sharath, there are two more Indians—Kotra Venkata Sai Rohankrishna and Pulkit Verma—who have been charged by the court for being part of the gathering and their cases are still pending.

Singapore is among the nations which has not completely witnessed a drop in coronavirus cases.

As of Tuesday, Singapore reported 6,341 new coronavirus cases, comprising 122 imported ones or those arriving in Singapore from abroad.

There was one death, taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 1,284.

Singapore has so far recorded 11,19,419 Covid cases since the start of the pandemic.