By Jermyn Chow

SMOKERS in Singapore have even fewer places to enjoy a puff now, as a nationwide ban on lighting up in a new list of public areas took effect yesterday.

About 100 plain-clothes enforcement officers from the National Environment Agency (NEA) fanned out across the island yesterday to issue friendly reminders to smokers who were still puffing away in now out-of-bounds areas such as lift lobbies and carparks.

As at 5pm, 245 smokers in about 280 places checked had received reminders. None was fined because smokers took the officers' advice to stub out their cigarettes.

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