Six more charged with breaching COVID-19 rules at New Year's Eve Clarke Quay gathering

SINGAPORE: Six more people were charged on Tuesday with allegedly violating COVID-19 safe management measures at a a gathering at the Clarke Quay area on New Year’s Eve.

The six men - who are aged between 19 and 23 - are Ateesh Ashutosh Rao, Shyama Kumar Sharath, Low Xuan Ming Glaxy, Shae Mika’il Farook, Declan Goh and Kevan Loh Wei Kang.

Their respective ages and nationalities were not listed in the court documents.

All six were charged with failing to maintain 1m safe distancing from other individuals while in a public place. 

Rao and Sharath were also charged with attending a gathering of at least six people to celebrate the new year outside Riverside Point, in violation of COVID-19 regulations which restricted such gatherings to no more than five individuals. 

Court documents showed Low, together with three others, had allegedly attended a gathering of more than five people for the purpose of recording video interviews and taking photographs near Read Bridge at Clark Quay. 

Farook, Goh and Loh also face one charge each of failing to wear a mask covering the nose and mouth while in public. 

This brings the total number of people charged in relation to the Clarke Quay incident to 10.

The other four were charged in January.

Videos circulating on social media in January had shown crowds gathered outside Riverside Point in Clarke Quay to ring in the new year on Dec 31, with the multi-ministry task force tackling COVID-19 later referring to the gathering as "a potential superspreading event". 

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said on Monday that another 11 people had been served Notices of Composition of S$1,000 each for breaching safe management measures, bringing the total number of people served with such Notices to 15. 

The URA also said that further investigations into others are ongoing, with enforcement action to be taken should they be found to have breached any safe management measures.