Singapore allows visitors on selected countries to travel without quarantine

Singapore is reopening its borders to more destinations, and some travelers from Hong Kong, Macau, Germany, and Brunei will soon be able to enter without providing quarantine.

City-states have announced the lifting of border restrictions for visitors from Hong Kong and Macau. These visitors will be able to apply for entry and enter Singapore immediately starting August 26th. According to S. Iswaran, Minister of Transport.

Singapore also plans to open so-called vaccinated travel lanes between Germany and Brunei in September, national aviation officials said in a statement. This means that Singaporeans can travel to Germany and Brunei if the conditions are met, but visitors from these countries can travel to Singapore without quarantine.

“As a small open economy, connections with other parts of the world are essential, if not existential,” Iswaran said in a press conference. That’s why we need to start reopening. “The longer our borders remain closed, the greater the risk of permanent damage to our economy, our lives, and our position as an aviation hub. “

Singapore has unilaterally opened its borders to travelers from Taiwan, New Zealand, and most visitors from mainland China. Southeast Asian countries closed their borders between Australia and Vietnam after the virus revived in Australia and Vietnam.

Hong Kong and Macau

Travelers from Hong Kong and Macau can now apply for an air travel pass to enter Singapore, regardless of vaccination status.

They must be tested for Covid-19 when they arrive in Singapore and self-quarantine until they receive a negative test result. You do not need to provide quarantine.

Visitors must have spent the last 21 consecutive days in Hong Kong or Macau before traveling to Singapore.

This arrangement is one-sided. This means that people traveling from Singapore to Hong Kong or Macau will follow the rules of each destination.

For example, Singapore is classified as a medium-risk country in Hong Kong, and people arriving from Singapore need to be quarantined for 7 to 21 days, depending on vaccination status and other factors.

Germany and Brunei

The agreement between Singapore and Germany and Brunei allows only fully vaccinated travelers to skip quarantine. They need to take four Covid tests. One is two days before departure, one is on arrival, one is on the third day and the other is on the seventh day.

With a successful September launch, this will be Singapore’s first bilateral travel arrangement. Due to the increase in Covid cases, the travel bubble with Hong Kong was postponed twice.

Applications for travel to Germany or Brunei began on September 1st and the conditions are as follows:

• Travel on designated direct flights in the vaccinated lane (VTL).
• Stay in Singapore, Germany, or Brunei for 21 consecutive days before your flight.
• I’m downloading a contact tracking app in Singapore.

The deal is “a welcome move and seems justified given the success of Singapore’s vaccination campaign,” said Norbert Riedel, German ambassador to Singapore.

“We are confident that these individuals traveling under the VTL scheme will demonstrate the necessary self-discipline and self-responsibility by adhering to the required testing requirements,” he said at a press conference.

“The German and Brunei vaccinated lanes have taken a significant set of safety measures to mark the measured start of the resumption of air travel,” Iswaran said in a virtual press conference. We chose to start in these two countries based on risk and operational assessment. “

According to Our World in Data, about 57% of Germany’s population is fully vaccinated, while Singapore’s population is 71.3%. Only 11.9% of Brunei’s population is fully vaccinated.

In a press release, Singapore’s Ministry of Health said, “The high vaccination rate of the population has helped manage the pandemic well and differentiated travelers from countries/regions that have vaccinated most of the population by vaccination. We have laid the foundation for the introduction of border measures. “

Singapore allows visitors to Germany and Hong Kong to travel without quarantine

Source: https://bit.ly/2W9sZIS