SINGAPORE — To abide by safe distancing measures announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday (March 20), funerals must be limited to under 250 people at any one time, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said. 

In response to queries from TODAY, the NEA said it issued an updated advisory to funeral directors and funeral parlour operators on Friday to advise them to implement additional precautionary measures, which include temperature screening, visitor registration and safe distancing measures.

This means there should be physical spacing of at least one metre between attendees, the agency said.

“This could be done by increasing distance between the tables, reducing the number of seats per table, and spacing out attendees during prayers.” 

The agency added that it discourages the set-up of buffets and advises operators to consider alternative arrangements such as individual bento sets.  

At the Mandai crematorium, staggered seating is also in place at the service halls and funeral directors are advised to inform families to keep the attendees to below 50 people, NEA said.

To keep wakes short and to a limited number of participants, NEA said that it has also advised funeral services companies to offer other other options to families, such as holding prayers just before the cremation, for example at the service hall in Mandai Crematorium. 

Burial is only permitted if there are strong religious reasons, added the NEA spokesperson.

For foreign deceased cases, families may cremate the bodies, and transport the cremated ashes back to their home countries.No special permit is required for the repatriation of cremated ashes.

On Friday, MOH announced that all events and gatherings of 250 or more participants must be suspended until June 30.

For events and gatherings with fewer than 250 participants, organisers and event venue operators are required to implement the necessary precautionary measures to ensure a separation of at least a metre between participants.

GUIDELINES FOR RELEVANT FUNERAL SERVICES HANDLING COVID-19 DEATHS

The latest advisory comes after NEA issued a circular last month to relevant funeral services companies on the guidelines for the handling of bodies with Covid-19.

To ensure that the bodies with Covid-19 are handled properly, they will be prepared for cremation or burial by healthcare workers in the hospitals.

The deceased bodies will be double bagged before being placed in a hermetically sealed coffin.  The subsequent collection, casketing and transporting of the bodies for cremation or burial will be restricted to funeral services companies whose staff have undergone the basic infection control course conducted by the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. 

Staff of funeral services companies will also be suitably protected when they carry out their work, said NEA. 

NEA has updated the MOH on the list of funeral services companies who are able and willing to handle bodies related to Covid-19. 

The list has been shared with hospitals who will advise affected families when such information is required, said the agency.