Singapore to waive quarantine for all immunized tourists post-omicron

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Singapore to waive quarantine for all vaccinated travelers post-omicron

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The transit hall of Changi International Airport in Singapore onJan 12, 2022.

Roslan Rahman|AFP|Getty Images

SINGAPORE– Singapore plans to permit immunized visitors from all nations to avoid quarantine on arrival when the omicron wave has actually passed, authorities revealed on Wednesday throughout a virtual press rundown.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung stated travel guidelines were implied to avoid infections from being imported into the nation, however that classification of cases represents just 1% of day-to-day cases and “no longer have a material impact” on Singapore’s Covid circumstance.

The future focus will be on whether visitors to Singapore will fall badly ill and concern the health-care system, he stated.

“We must in fact stress less on SHN and tests on tourists, [and] more on making sure that they are completely immunized and enhanced,” he stated.

“Instead of having vaccinated travel lanes or VTLs with selected countries that we think are low risk, we should actually allow SHN-free travel for … fully vaccinated travelers from all countries,” Ong stated, describing stay-home notifications released to visitors to Singapore.

“We should make this transition not now, but after omicron wave has peaked and start to subside,” he included.

The authorities did not set a date for this brand-new policy to work, however Gan Kim Yong, the minister for trade and market, stated that the omicron wave might peak in a couple of weeks.

Vaccinated travel lanes

As Singapore shifts to a “vaccinated traveler system,” it will initially alter the method it classifies nations that visitors are showing up from.

FromFeb 22, nations will be divided into 3 primary groups– limited, basic and low infection. The large bulk of nations will remain in the basic classification and undergo the very same entry requirements unless a VTL has actually been introduced.

No nations will remain in the limited classification in the meantime, however nations and areas might be moved there if a brand-new version of issue is discovered, authorities stated.

Separately, a health ministry news release stated formerly postponed immunized travel lanes with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will start onFeb 25. Authorities likewise revealed that brand-new VTLs for Israel, Hong Kong and the Philippines will be introduced.

Covid circumstance

Singapore reported a record 19,420 brand-new Covid cases on Tuesday.

Over the last 28 days, 99.7% of reported cases have actually had moderate or no signs.

The city-state has actually reported 497,997 Covid cases and 913 associated deaths given that the start of the Covid pandemic.

Around 90% of Singapore’s population have actually gotten 2 shots under the nationwide vaccination program, and 64% of the population have actually gotten boosters.