None of his colleagues contracted COVID-19 from the incident.
Singapore:
A 64-year-old Singaporean of Indian descent was sentenced to two weeks’ jail on Monday for pleading guilty to breaching a COVID-19 regulation. The man, named Tamilselvam Ramaiya, did not wear a mask to cover his nose and mouth while outside his home in 2021, even though he knew he had tested positive for COVID-19. In addition, he deliberately coughed at his colleagues, lowering his mask to do so on one occasion.
The court considered two other charges during sentencing, as reported by Channel News Asia.
According to the court, Tamilselvam was working as a cleaner for Leong Hup Singapore at the time of the incident.
On the morning of October 18, 2021, Tamilselvam reported for work at 6 Senoko Way and informed the assistant logistics manager that he was feeling unwell. He was instructed to take an antigen rapid test (ART).
A colleague administered the test on Tamilselvam, and he tested positive for COVID-19.
After receiving the test result, he was told to go home and inform the assistant logistics manager. However, instead of heading home immediately, Tamilselvam went to the company’s logistics office to inform the assistant logistics manager about his COVID-19 test result.
Tamilselvam entered the office with a company driver who was unaware of the positive test result.
The first victim, a 40-year-old logistics supervisor, told the driver to stay away from Tamilselvam and gestured for him to leave the office.
Tamilselvam walked towards the office door, but turned back and coughed twice into the office with his mask on.
The supervisor closed the office door, but Tamilselvam opened it again, lowered his mask, and coughed into the office a third time before leaving.
The entire act was captured on the office’s closed-circuit television camera.
As Tamilselvam was leaving, he passed by a window and coughed in the direction of a 56-year-old clerk who was on the other side. He also said “kena COVID, kena COVID,” which means “getting COVID” in Malay.
The colleagues who were coughed at were alarmed because they knew Tamilselvam had tested positive for COVID-19. The clerk, who was a dialysis patient with cardiac and renal issues, administered an ART on herself after being coughed at.
Fortunately, none of them contracted COVID-19 from the incident.
After the incident, Tamilselvam went to a polyclinic where he was given another swab test and a three-day medical certificate. He was also instructed to quarantine himself at home.
The assistant logistics manager of the company filed a police report regarding the incident.
During the investigation, Tamilselvam claimed that he coughed at his colleagues as a joke and did not take his positive test result seriously. He visited the polyclinic to confirm if he had contracted COVID-19.
The Deputy Public Prosecutor, Sruthi Boppana, stated that Tamilselvam’s actions were not a laughing matter. He had disobeyed explicit instructions to leave the premises and instead returned to deliberately cough at his colleagues.
Boppana requested a jail term of three to four weeks, pointing out that Tamilselvam’s actions occurred during a time when Singapore was experiencing a fresh surge of COVID-19 cases, leading to the tightening of restrictions.
For violating the COVID-19 regulation, Tamilselvam could have faced up to six months in jail, a fine of up to SGD10,000, or both.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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