Singapore — Beginning from Wednesday, Oct 27, six Asian countries will be removed from Singapore’s travel restriction list, namely, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
This means that passengers who have been in any of these countries within 14 days of their flight to Singapore will be allowed to transit through or enter the country.Â
But individuals from these countries still have to serve a ten-day stay-home notice period at a dedicated facility.
The Straits Times reports Health Minister Ong Ye Kung as saying in a virtual press conference held by the multi-ministry task force (MTF) on Saturday (Oct 23) that the pandemic situation in these Asian countries has been stable for some time now, which eliminates the need for restrictions that disallow travellers from these places from coming to Singapore.
Measures for people arriving from Malaysia and Indonesia will also be eased from Oct 27 onward, but people arriving from these countries will serve their SHN at a declared place of residence or accommodation instead of a dedicated facility.Â
Along with travellers from Malaysia and Indonesia, those coming from Cambodia, Egypt, Hungary, Israel, Mongolia, Qatar, Rwanda, Samoa, Seychelles, South Africa, Tonga, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Vietnam will automatically serve their SHN at home or their chosen accommodation, regardless of their and their household members’ vaccination status and travel history.
Those serving SHN in their chosen accommodation cannot leave these places for ten days and will be required to wear a monitoring device to ascertain their location for their ten days in SHN.
Last week, similar pandemic restrictions were also eased. Starting from Oct 19, the government expanded the Vaccinated Travel Lanes or VTL for quarantine-free travel to eight more countries: Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Travellers from Brunei and Germany have been allowed to enter Singapore since September.
The easing of travel restrictions is in line with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announcement of measures under Singapore’s “Living with Covid-19” strategy, when he said on Oct 9 that “Singapore cannot stay locked down and closed off indefinitely.”
However, some Singaporeans have found the easing of travel restrictions to be somewhat problematic, given the recent record-high number of new infections and daily fatalities due to Covid.
/TISG