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SHN, QUARANTINE BREACHES

There have been 367 breaches of stay-home notices (SHNs) and 130 violations of quarantine orders as at Jan 25, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Faishal Ibrahim yesterday.

A total of 308,442 SHNs and 268,385 quarantine orders had been issued in that time.

Replying to a question in Parliament, Associate Professor Faishal said those who breach SHNs and quarantine orders may be prosecuted under the Infectious Diseases Act and can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to six months, or both.

Since last August, those serving SHNs at home are required to wear an electronic monitoring device, which tracks their whereabouts.

Those on quarantine must also put on similar devices, Assoc Prof Faishal said.

WOMEN AND CAREGIVING

About nine in 10 residents who stop working to become caregivers are women, said Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang.

In 2019, about 133,500 residents cited caregiving responsibilities as the main reason for not working, with 39 per cent caring for their own children, said Ms Gan.

This was slightly lower than in 2018, which had 144,100 or 4.3 per cent of residents not working to become caregivers, with about 38 per cent caring for their children.

Overall, the female employment rate is "high and rising", said Ms Gan.

In 2019, it was at 73.3 per cent for women aged 25 to 64 - higher than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 66.3 per cent, and the 2014 figure of 70.5 per cent.

SMOKING COMPLAINTS

The National Environment Agency (NEA) received an average of about 2,900 complaints a month on smoking in prohibited areas last year, said Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Amy Khor in Parliament yesterday.

This compares with 210 a month for smoking in non-prohibited areas.

Dr Khor said NEA has been progressively extending the prohibition of smoking to more places where the public is likely to be exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke. - THE STRAITS TIMES

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