Singapore announced on Thursday it will lift quarantine requirements for all vaccinated travellers from next month, joining a string of countries in Asia moving more firmly toward a “living with the virus” approach.
As well as lifting quarantine requirements for all vaccinated travellers from 1 April, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singapore will also drop requirements to wear masks outdoors and allow larger groups to gather.
“Our fight against COVID-19 has reached a major turning point,” Lee said in a televised speech that was also streamed on Facebook. “We will be making a decisive move towards living with COVID-19.”
Singapore was one of the first countries to shift from a containment strategy to new COVID normal for its 5.5 million population but had to slow some of its easing plans due to subsequent outbreaks.
Now, as infection surges caused by the Omicron variant begin to subside in most countries in the region and vaccination rates improve, Singapore and other nations are removing a host of social distancing measures designed to stop the spread of the virus.
Singapore began lifting quarantine restrictions for vaccinated travellers from certain countries in September, with 32 countries on the list before Thursday’s extension to vaccinated visitors from any nation.
From 1 April, as a part of its new ‘Vaccinated Travel Framework’, Singapore will also ditch its Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) system.
This opens up the entire SIA and Scoot network to all eligible customers. Today, SIA and Scoot operate from 97 destinations in 34 countries to Singapore.
The quotas on the number of daily arrivals into the country and the requirement to have been in a VTL country for the previous seven days will also be abandoned.
This means fully-jabbed travellers from anywhere in the world will be able to enter the country without the need for special approval.
Existing Singapore Airlines customers who are currently booked on a VTL flight on or after 1 April 2022 may travel as planned. They need not make any changes to their booking.
Travellers, regardless of vaccination status, will be allowed to transit through Singapore on almost all SIA and Scoot flights from 1 April 2022 as long as they meet the entry requirements of their final destination
Travellers will need to still conduct a pre-departure test to enter the country, but on-arrival testing will come to an end.
Indonesia also dropped quarantine requirements for all arrivals from overseas this week, and its Southeast Asian neighbours of Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia took similar measures, as they seek to rebuild tourism sectors.
For more information visit safetravel.ica.gov.sg/.
Source: AAP