Singapore — On Sept 10, Actor Chen Hanwei shared a group photo on Instagram in celebration of his 52nd birthday which left netizens wondering if he broke any Covid-19 SOPs.
A netizen left a comment asking if the government had already allowed more than five visitors per household. Luckily, the actor was quick to respond and clarify that former actress Yvonne Lim was the host of the event, with her husband and two children. He further added there were only five guests in total for the occasion.
Among the five visitors were himself plus his acting buddies – Hong Huifang, Shaun Chen, Huang Biren, and Zheng Geping; therefore, no rules were broken. Soon after that, Lim also clarified that everyone met up at her place so that the rest of her family could join the celebration.
Why the rush for a reply?
The urgency for clarification comes after the incident of Mediacorp star, Terence Cao had breached social distancing measures and held a birthday bash with twelve other guests at his condo last October.
Cao’s guest list included other renowned celebrities such as Shane Pow, Jeffrey Xu, Dawn Yeoh and Julie Tan. Others at the party were artists, Jeremy chan and Heng Tee Kok plus former magazine editor, Lance Lim Chee Keong.
The actor and his pals faced a ton of backlash from the public after their group picture circulated all over social media.
Not to mention, the incident took place when Singapore was still under a partial lockdown – we were at the second phase of reopening the economy. One of the SOPs was (and still is), there can only be a maximum of five guests for gatherings to reduce the spread of the virus.
It was towards the end of last December when the actor uploaded an apology note to his fans on Instagram.
Earlier this year (May), Cao pleaded guilty to the charge of allowing others who were not part of his household to visit. Unfortunately, he was one of the two (the other was former magazine editor, Lance Lim) who were charged and fined up to S$3,500 while his other guests were given a S$300 composition fine. /TISG