SINGAPORE: Households with repeated mosquito breeding offences and multiple breeding habitats will soon face harsher penalties, after more than 1,000 weekly dengue cases were reported earlier this month. 

Currently, households are issued a composition sum of S$200 for mosquito breeding detected at their residential premises, regardless of the number of breeding habitats detected, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) on Monday (Jun 22). 

Offenders are sent to court for the fourth offence.

These will change starting Jul 15, said NEA in a press release.  

First-time offenders will be penalised with a S$200 fine for a single instance of mosquito breeding, and S$300 for multiple breeding instances during the same inspection or mosquito breeding detected after a legal notice has been served. 

Repeat offenders will also be given heftier penalties or sent to court.

The enhanced penalties are as follows:

In homes specifically, there has been a “significant increase” in mosquito breeding, with the breeding incidence rates in homes up by 50 per cent in the last three years compared to in the preceding three years, said NEA. 

There was a five-fold increase in the incidence of Aedes mosquito larvae detected in homes and common corridors at residential areas during the two-month-long COVID-19 “circuit breaker”, compared to in the two months prior.

“This is despite more people staying home and being in a position to upkeep their premises better, and comes after years of educational outreach on the prevention of mosquito breeding habitats at home,” said NEA. 

“The majority of mosquito breeding is found in residential homes,” Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr Masagos Zulkifli, said in the press release. 

“Even as NEA continues to conduct home inspections and educate residents on what they can do to protect themselves and to prevent mosquito breeding at home, the number of dengue cases has continued to rise.

“This places about 325,000 households living in over 200 dengue clusters islandwide at higher risk of dengue transmission.”

READ: Weekly number of dengue cases in Singapore surpasses ‘historical high’

The composition sums will also be raised for mosquito breeding at construction sites, said NEA, adding that although there has been “steady improvement” in the number of mosquito breeding habitats detected at construction sites, they continue to be uncovered. 

From Jul 15, first-time offenders will be fined S$3,000, up from the current S$2,000. Repeat offenders will also face more severe penalties.

NEA said it will also tighten enforcement for town councils for mosquito breeding found in common habitats such as drains and gully traps.  

Currently, town councils may be fined up to a maximum of S$5,000 for mosquito breeding detected in dengue cluster areas.

READ: Spike in dengue cases: Why Singapore may see worst outbreak in years

MORE THAN 200 ACTIVE DENGUE CLUSTERS IN SINGAPORE

As of Jun 19, 254 active dengue clusters have been reported in Singapore, NEA said.

The five largest dengue clusters are located at Woodleigh Close, Leicester Road, Aljunied Road, Tampines Avenue 7 and Chu Lin Road.

Some dengue clusters also have a faster rate of dengue transmission, said NEA. 

These include the 157-case cluster at Leicester Road, 146-case cluster at Aljunied Road, 120-case cluster at Potong Pasir Avenue 1, 115-case cluster at Broadrick Road and 91-case cluster at Bukit Panjang Ring Road, with an average of about two to four cases reported per day in the past two weeks.

While 904 out of the 1,158 dengue clusters notified have closed since the start of the year, there are some errant clusters.

“Repeated mosquito breeding is still being detected at residential premises at the Woodleigh Close and Aljunied Road dengue clusters,” NEA said.

“There are also premises with multiple mosquito breeding detected in common breeding habitats, such as pails, dish trays, containers and flower pot plates, despite NEA’s constant reminders in our outreach materials to check these common habitats.”

The agency said it will step up outreach efforts at dengue cluster areas, with volunteers and poster walkers augmenting such efforts. SG Clean Ambassadors will also distribute dengue prevention checklists at hawker centres, to reach out to the general community.

READ: Dengue cases this year could surpass 2013 peak unless urgent action taken: NEA

OVERALL DENGUE SITUATION IN SINGAPORE

The heavier penalties come after Singapore faced a weekly “historical high” earlier this month.

In the week ending Jun 13, the number of weekly dengue cases exceeded 1,000 – the highest number for the same period of the year since 2013 when the largest outbreak year was recorded in Singapore’s history, NEA added.

As of Monday, there have been 12,542 reported dengue cases this year. At least 12 people have died from dengue in 2020, with the victims aged between 56 and 80.

“Vector control is a key strategy given that our population will continue to have low immunity and we have limited control over other factors, like warmer weather, which is conducive for the faster multiplication of the Aedes mosquito and dengue virus,” said NEA. 

“There are three main components in the transmission of dengue: The dengue virus, the Aedes mosquito and the human host. Removing any one of these components will halt the spread of dengue.”

In anticipation of the surge in dengue cases this year, NEA has initiated several new efforts including enforcement and vector control measures.

At dengue clusters, there is continuous surveillance of Aedes mosquito populations through the deployment of Gravitraps, a regime of regular inspections of potential mosquito breeding habitats and removal of mosquito breeding sources through intensive search-and-destroy operations.

Gravitrap surveillance system monitors the Aedes mosquito population at residential areas, and has detected a 20 per cent increase in the Aedes aegypti mosquito population in May 2020, compared to in April 2020.

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA), SilkAir and Scoot passengers flying from selected cities in China, Japan and South Korea can now transit through Changi Airport.

The approved cities are Hong Kong, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Shanghai in China, Osaka and Tokyo (Narita International Airport) in Japan, and Seoul in South Korea, SIA announced on its website on Saturday (Jun 22).

This is in addition to transit flights from selected cities in New Zealand and Australia that were announced on Jun 11.

The updated list of approved cities is as follows:

SIA announced on its website that the transit flights are only for outbound journeys from the approved cities.

“Passengers will not be able to transit from other points in the SIA Group network through Singapore into these cities.”

Transfers in Singapore are also only allowed on flights between airlines within the SIA Group, namely SIA, SilkAir and Scoot.

Currently, transfers to and from flights operated by other airlines are not permitted.

SAFE TRANSIT

SIA had on Jun 11 announced that transit and non-transit passengers will be kept apart at Changi Airport “to ensure the health and safety of our customers and staff”.

Transit passengers will receive wristbands indicating their access to the designated transit holding area.

READ: Safety measures in new transit holding areas in Changi Airport

If the transit time is less than 75 minutes, passengers will be ushered directly to their boarding gate.

“For transit times of more than 75 minutes, they will be ushered to a designated transit holding area at their departure terminal before boarding their connecting flight,” said SIA. 

The passengers will not be able to make any stops along the way and will have to stay within the transit holding area at all times.

When boarding the plane, transit passengers will first board the aircraft, followed by non-transit passengers. 

SIA added that on the plane, there will be dedicated seating zones to separate the transit and non-transit passengers. 

“Passengers should remain in their designated zone throughout the flight,” said the airline.  

“Upon arrival, non-transit passengers will disembark first followed by transit passengers.”

READ: Singapore Airlines, SilkAir reinstate flights for some destinations in June and July

SINGAPORE: NTUC FairPrice will continue to freeze the prices of 100 housebrand items at its supermarkets until the end of the year as part of a S$50 million package to alleviate living costs for households amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The items include daily essentials and groceries like rice, oil, beverages, as well as batteries, toiletries and household cleaners, said NTUC Enterprise in a media release on Monday (Jun 22).

Diapers, UHT milk, bread and detergent are also included in the list.

NTUC Enterprise said that the initiative is part of a S$50 million package aimed at “providing holistic support for Singaporeans and helping them manage the cost of living in 2020”.

“The package reaffirms the commitment and timeliness of NTUC Enterprise to support Singaporeans, especially during difficult times,” it said.

The price freeze initiative, which was launched in March 2019, was supposed to run until Jun 30 this year. It will now be extended until Dec 31.

“This six-month extension helps cushion Singaporeans against potential price increases, regardless of changes in supply, socio-economic factors and external factors that could affect food prices, especially during the current volatile and uncertain climate,” said the company.

The initiative was initially supposed to run for 15 months and provide shoppers with savings of approximately S$17.8 million. The extension will provide an additional S$6.7 million in savings.

NTUC Enterprise added that this price freeze will also act as “a benchmark for prices in general of everyday essentials”, ensuring they remain affordable.

The company said that in 2019, the costs of 38 of the 100 housebrand items saw increases of up to 10 per cent. This amounted to more than S$350,000 which FairPrice has absorbed.

EXTENSION OF DISCOUNTS FOR ELIGIBLE SENIORS

NTUC Enterprise also announced that it will extend the validity of its various programmes to provide cost savings for eligible seniors for another six months until Dec 31.

This includes existing Monday to Wednesday discounts at FairPrice for Merdeka Generation (MG), Pioneer Generation (PG) and Senior Citizens, and discounts on insurance, personal home care services and day centre services for MG and PG members.

The extension of both the PG and MG Discount Schemes is estimated to provide savings of S$7.9 million this year.

Savings from the Seniors Discount Scheme are also estimated to exceed S$2.5 million, bringing the total estimated savings for all seniors to S$10.4 million in 2020, said NTUC Enterprise.

From July 2020, FairPrice will add another five mobile grocery vans to bring daily essentials closer to seniors, reducing their time spent outdoors. Seniors visiting these vans may use their PG, MG and Senior discounts.

The initiative FairPrice on Wheels will have 10 vans providing basic essential items at selected mature estates with a higher concentration of low-income seniors.

READ: COVID-19: Supermarkets launch dedicated shopping hours for ‘vulnerable segments’ of community

NTUC Enterprise Group CEO Mr Seah Kian Peng said that it has been a “challenging year” for Singaporeans heavily impacted by COVID-19.

“In times like these, our resolve to serve Singaporeans has only deepened,” said Mr Seah.

“We have put in additional resources to ensure that daily essential products and services … remain accessible and affordable for all,” he said.

“Through this comprehensive support package, we reaffirm our commitment to moderate the cost of living for all Singaporeans.”

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