The requirement of all COVID-19 tests for fully vaccinated visitors will “very soon” be removed by Singapore, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the city-state’s tourism board said in Manila on April 19. By Manas Sen Gupta
According to Bloomberg, Singapore Tourism Board CEO Keith Tan said that the decision on the same might be taken in the next few weeks.
Singapore moving towards normalcy increasingly
Most restrictions dropped
Most of the restrictions put in place to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus have already been dropped in Singapore for vaccinated travellers.
There is no need for quarantine or on-arrival tests for those who have been inoculated against the virus. The test still needed for fully vaccinated passengers is a pre-departure COVID-19 test taken before arriving in Singapore.
Bloomberg reports that once all tests are removed for arriving passengers, the Southeast Asian economic giant will join a select list of countries where restrictions have almost completely been lifted. These include the UK, Norway, Jordan and Ireland.
Gradual steps to full reopening
Singapore has been taking gradual steps towards opening up the country to visitors from around the world.
In March, the city-state removed the requirement for fully vaccinated travellers from places in the General Travel category to apply for a vaccinated travel lane (VTL) pass before entering Singapore. Inoculated travellers are allowed to take any flight or ferry to the country to be accorded quarantine-free treatment upon arrival.
In an address to the country on March 24, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that cross-border travel will ease “substantially” with the Omicron situation “well under control”.
He also said that the simplified Vaccinated Travel Framework will allow citizens of the country to travel abroad “almost like before COVID-19”.
As per the PM’s announcement, several key changes were made to the country’s COVID-19 policy on March 29. These include making the wearing of masks optional and doubling gatherings to 10.
As per a decision taken on April 4, all bars, pubs, karaoke establishments, discotheques and nightclubs were fully reopened on April 4.
(Hero and Featured Image : Courtesy STB/@stb_sg/Twitter)
Related: Starting April 1, Fully Vaccinated Travellers No Longer Need To Take The VTL Route To Singapore
