SINGAPORE — Errant food delivery riders of GrabFood, Foodpanda and Deliveroo who fail to comply with circuit breaker regulations such as wearing a face mask at all times and keeping a safe distance can expect to be suspended from all three firms for a year, the authorities said on Wednesday (April 15).

Trade agency Enterprise Singapore said in a joint statement with the Singapore Food Agency and the Land Transport Authority that this penalty will be in addition to the existing safe distancing regulations laid out by the Government, which includes a S$300 fine for such breaches.

The statement said that with the increasing demand for food delivery services during the circuit breaker period, which runs until May 4, the agencies wanted to step up efforts to ensure that delivery personnel “adhere to the elevated safe distancing measures”.

“This is to safeguard the health of delivery personnel, staff of food-and-beverage establishments, customers and others they may interact with during their work,” the agencies said.

They also said that the three food delivery firms will suspend errant delivery personnel, who have been “caught and fined” for not meeting the Covid-19 regulations in the course of their work, from taking up delivery jobs across all three platforms for 12 months.

The firms are expected to work with their delivery personnel to “ensure awareness of and adherence” to the key safe distancing and precautionary measures, the agencies said.

This means observing strict safe distancing from others, wearing masks at all times during their work, mandating contactless delivery such as placing food deliveries on doorsteps “where possible” and the frequent cleaning of food carriers and warmers used for food delivery.

Members of the public coming across businesses or individuals in breach of safe-distancing measures should report this to Covid_GoBusiness [at] mit.gov.sg with supporting evidence such as photographs.

In response to queries from TODAY, a Grab spokesperson said that there will be frequent reminders on the firm's mobile application and that it will also deploy personnel on the ground to “remind all partners to adhere to the Government’s latest advisories and measures to stay safe”.

“As our driver- and delivery-partners stay on the roads to serve the needs of our users during this crucial period, we are committed to ensure that everyone adopts the current circuit breaker measures.”

TODAY understands that rival Gojek will take action against drivers who do not wear a mask, including suspending them from its platform.

In the meantime, people who are still in need of masks will be able to buy them from various supermarkets and pharmacies, which now have them in stock.

A spokesperson from the Dairy Farm Group, which oversees the Cold Storage and Marketplace supermarkets and the Guardian pharmacy chain, said that masks are on sale at these outlets.

“Where the masks are available, and what type — disposable and reusable — will vary across the different stores depending on stock and availability,” the spokesperson said.

While Guardian presently carries only reusable masks, Mr Soren Lauridsen, the pharmacy's chief executive officer of health and beauty in South East Asia,  said that supplies of disposable surgical masks will be replenished by the end of the month.

A spokesperson for competitor Watsons said that it had been able to secure stocks of disposable surgical masks, and that customers will be able to get them from Watsons stores from the end of this week.

Customers who are unable to get their hands on these masks can be reassured that there will be more stock in the “upcoming weeks”, the spokesperson added.

“We are constantly getting feedback from the customers on what they hope to get from Watsons and will be considering the sourcing of different masks based on demand level.” 

To ensure that there is sufficient stock for everyone, the respective spokespersons for the Dairy Farm Group and Watsons said that they will limit each customer to getting just one box of masks.

Both warned that customers who do not wear a mask when entering their shops will be turned away.

TODAY has sought comment from NTUC FairPrice supermarket chain.