Since the pandemic started, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has been announcing our Covid-19 case numbers every day.
Before the release of the numbers, MOH employees, like 37-year-old Zhao Zheng, had access to this information.
However, as early as 16 Mar 2020, she began to leak the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in a WeChat group with 49 members.
She even played “guessing games” with the group participants, offering a small monetary prize for those who correctly predicted the numbers.
On Tuesday (22 Feb), Zhao pleaded guilty to 12 charges, most of which were for unlawful communication of information under the Official Secrets Act (OSA). She was sentenced to 18 weeks’ jail.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), before the pandemic, Zhao worked as an assistant director of the Biostatistics and Research Branch of the Public Health Division of MOH.
In 2008, she signed an undertaking to safeguard official information under the OSA, acknowledging that all official information sent to her as part of her duties was strictly confidential.
When MOH began Covid-19 operations in Feb 2020, Zhao became the deputy lead of the Data Management Unit.
This meant that she had access to a folder on the MOH intranet containing Covid-19 details.
In it was a spreadsheet collating the gender, nationality, and address of Covid-19 cases in Singapore, as well as a spreadsheet of confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Zhao could determine the number of cases each day before MOH’s official release.
As early as Mar 2020, she began sharing the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases to a WeChat group with 49 members who were mothers before MOH released the numbers.
On some occasions, Zhao also shared the number of imported cases, reported CNA.
Sometimes, she would even play a “guessing game” with the group chat members.
Zhao would then send small “good luck” prizes like $0.21 to those who came closest to the correct figures.
Besides that, Zhao retrieved information for a group chat member who wanted to know details about a Covid-19 case at her condominium.
The member, Tang Lin, was fined $10,000 in Aug 2021.
On 18 Apr 2020, the head of MOH’s Case Reporting Team began suspecting that the Covid-19 case numbers were being leaked. A police report was then lodged.
According to TODAY Online, MOH suspended Zhao from work once police began investigations.
On Tuesday (22 Feb), Zhao pleaded guilty to 12 charges, including wrongfully communicating information and committing offences under OSA. Another 12 charges were taken into consideration.
She was sentenced to 18 weeks’ jail.
Zhao’s actions caused public agencies to redirect resources to deal with the leak.
This had severe consequences, especially since it happened when Singapore was still adjusting its approach towards the pandemic.
Confidential information is kept secret for a good reason, especially since prematurely releasing such numbers can cause unnecessary panic.
Hopefully, this case serves as a deterrent to all public servants to abide by these rules.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and Google Maps.
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