A British man has been jailed for two weeks in Singapore after he broke quarantine by sneaking out of his hotel room to meet his fiancée.

Nigel Skea was also fined S$1,000 (£540) for leaving his room three times on September 21 last year, judge Jasvender Kaur said on Friday.

Skea was twice caught “loitering along the corridor” and on one occasion the 52-year-old left his room to meet his Singaporean partner Agatha Maghesh Eyamalai, who was not in quarantine but had booked a room in the same hotel. Skea was also not wearing a mask, which is required in Singapore.

Eyamalai, 39, who married Skea in November, was sentenced to one week imprisonment for abetting him.

The couple had both pleaded guilty and their lawyer SS Dhillon said they would not appeal the sentencing. He told the court: “This is a classic tale of two lovers wanting to be together and trying to be as close as possible to each other, but breaching the law.” 

The city-state has largely brought its coronavirus outbreak under control, with less than a handful of new local cases a day, due to strict quarantining of arrivals, contact-tracing and social distancing.

Singapore requires most arrivals to undergo 14 days of quarantine at government-designated hotels. Quarantine violations can be penalised with a fine of up to S$10,000 (£5,400) or up to six months in jail, or both.

The island nation has jailed and fined others for breaking Covid-19 rules, while some foreigners have also had their work permits revoked.