Singapore — Residents will be able to collect a pair of free masks from June 29 to July 12, from a number of vending machines in various areas on the island, according to an announcement on Thursday (June 25) by Temasek Foundation in conjunction with its annual Community Day.
The foundation’s Stay Prepared StayMasked initiative is meant to complement the Government’s earlier distribution of reusable masks. It will provide 11.4 million free masks in total.
The MaskSafe DET30™ masks, which are reusable and antimicrobial, can be collected from at least 1,200 vending machines in 800 locations at community centres and clubs, bus interchanges, or residents’ committee centres.
The masks can be collected from 10 am on June 29 (Monday) up till 11.59 pm on July 12. Residents will only need to bring along their identity card (NRIC), birth certificate, Foreign Identity Number (FIN) or government-issued IDs that have a barcode that can be used for scanning at designated Temasek Foundation vending machines.
Residents may also get masks on behalf of other family members or friends, as long as they have the government IDs with barcodes of those individuals as well.
Should anyone attempt to get masks illegally, the vending machines will be equipped with webcams in order to take photos of every person collecting the masks.
Residents who want to buy extra masks can preorder up to five additional pieces using the StayMasked website, DBS PayLah!, or major credit cards for S$8 each. Once the transaction goes through, a QR code will be generated and sent to the buyer’s mobile number, which they can use at the appropriate vending machines.
Note that no payment transactions will be allowed at the StayMasked allocated vending machines.
You can find the location of designated vending machines nearest you here.
The masks can be reused and washed up to 30 times, which means that two masks should last each person up to two months.
There is information on how to best care for these particular masks at the StayMasked website. /TISG