SINGAPORE — The authorities are not hiring people to enforce rules on household visits during the Chinese New Year period as claimed by a message circulating on WhatsApp, said the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) on Thursday (Jan 28).
The message claimed that an agency will employ 5,000 temporary staff members to "go around houses to check the number of visitors present in each household", with details on how much they would be paid for the job.
“There is no such hiring exercise being conducted by agencies involved in the enforcement of safe distancing measures and safe management measures,” MSE said on Thursday (Jan 28) in response to CNA's queries.
Agencies have deployed safe distancing ambassadors since the partial lockdown in April and May last year and they have been hiring to "replace attrition”, it said.
The number of these ambassadors has remained constant and there is no plan to hire 5,000 more for the Chinese New Year period, it added.Ahead of Chinese New Year, the authorities announced new restrictions, allowing every household to receive only up to eight visitors each day.
Daily cap of 8 visitors for each household from Jan 26, ramped up spot-checks during Chinese New Year.
People should also limit themselves to visiting a maximum of two other households a day as much as possible, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.
The restrictions come after a recent rise in Covid-19 cases in the community. Education Minister Lawrence Wong, co-chair of the national Covid-19 task force, said last week: “We only need to recall what happened last year when we indeed saw a spike in cases after Chinese New Year, and we had many clusters linked to Chinese New Year gatherings.
“This was last year, we don’t want a repeat of that happening.”On Thursday, MSE reminded people to abide by Covid-19 rules. "We urge everyone to follow the rules, do our part by being socially responsible, including during festive periods, to prevent a resurgence in community transmission and keep Singapore safe," it said. CNA
