Singapore will gradually allow quarantine-free entry from next month. To start with, travelers from Germany and Brunei who are vaccinated against COVID-19 will be allowed to enter without requiring any quarantine, its aviation regulator said on Thursday, as part of a plan to gradually reopen its borders.
Visitors from those countries can from Sept. 8 bypass the isolation requirement if they test negative in four polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.
Border restrictions will also be progressively eased for all travel from Hong Kong and Macau from this Saturday, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said in a statement.
The announcement came shortly after the Hong Kong government said its air travel bubble plan with Singapore had been dropped here. Singapore’s transport ministry said the two territories had different approaches.
Lawrence Wong, finance minister and co-chair of Singapore’s coronavirus task force, said it was important to reopen the country carefully.
“Risk tolerance and risk attitudes will differ from country to country,” he told a briefing.
“We want to get through this pandemic with minimum damage and minimum death toll, while trying to resume life as normally as we can.”
The health ministry said Singapore would also pilot home isolation for fully-vaccinated people who are infected with coronavirus and have mild symptoms. As of Tuesday, 77% of Singapore’s population has had two vaccine shots.
It plans to start vaccinations for children below 12 years old in early 2022, after the safety and efficacy aspects have been studied, health minister Ong Ye Kung said.
IATA has welcomed Singapore’s plans to ease travel restrictions.
Conrad Clifford, IATA’s Deputy Director General said,
“Singapore’s announcement is a positive step in the right direction. We understand the need for a cautious approach, and look forward to seeing further lifting of quarantine requirements. This will help with the recovery of the aviation and tourism sectors.
It has been 1.5 years since the world closed its borders to international travel. A lot more is known today about COVID-19. Unfortunately many states in Asia Pacific continue to adopt a risk adverse zero-COVID approach, and continue to shut their borders. This is not sustainable and is detrimental to both their economies and their populations.
We have seen moves around the world to reopen borders, allow international travel, and restarting their aviation and tourism sectors. Asia-Pacific risks being left behind.
A data driven approach using vaccination and testing can manage the risk of COVID-19 when reopening borders to international travel. Singapore has shown leadership in demonstrating that it is safe to reopen international travel without quarantine. I hope other Asia Pacific states will take similar steps with their borders.”