Singaporean Authorities Cancel Passport of Citizen Over Violation of COVID-19 Quarantine

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The authorities in Singapore have cancelled a passport of a citizen who violated a quarantine imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said in a statement on Sunday, adding that the citizen's case was being referred to the Health Ministry for further investigation.

"The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has cancelled the passport of a 53-year-old male Singapore Citizen, Goh Illya Victor, for breaching the Stay-Home Notice (SHN) requirements. The case has also been referred to the Ministry of Health (MOH) for investigation", the statement said.

According to the ICA, all people who have been in Southeast Asian countries in the past 14 days and are entering Singapore are required to stay at home for two weeks. Goh left Singapore for Indonesia on 3 March, returned on 19 March and was supposed to spend 14 days in quarantine.

A restaurant promoter waits for customers at the largely empty Chinatown as tourism takes a decline due to the coronavirus outbreak in Singapore February 21, 2020

© REUTERS / Edgar Su

However, he decided to return to Indonesia on the same day, despite warnings by ICA officers that he could be punished for breaching the isolation regime. On 24 March, he tried to come back to Singapore but his passport was cancelled over a deliberate violation of the quarantine conditions.

The island nation previously reported over 800 coronavirus cases and three fatalities from COVID-19.