Singapore to reopen borders to all fully vaccinated travellers on Apr 1; existing VTLs will be retired

Written by: Vanessa Lim

SINGAPORE: Singapore will reopen its borders to all fully vaccinated travellers, removing all existing vaccinated travel lanes (VTL) and unilateral opening arrangements from Apr 1, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore announced on Thursday (Mar 24).

Instead, it will transition to a new simplified travel framework - the vaccinated travel framework - where countries and regions will be classified into two categories - general travel or the restricted category.

Under the framework, all fully vaccinated travellers, as well as children aged 12 and below, will be able to enter Singapore with just a pre-departure COVID-19 test from 11.59pm on Mar 31.

They will also no longer need to apply for entry approvals or take designated VTL transport to enter Singapore quarantine-free. In addition, there will be no more quotas on the number of daily arrivals.

While they will continue to be subjected to a pre-departure test within two days before departure for Singapore, they will not be required to serve a stay-home notice or undergo an unsupervised antigen rapid test (ART) after arriving in Singapore.

As for long-term pass-holders and short-term visitors aged 13 and above who are not fully vaccinated, they are generally not allowed to enter Singapore, with a few exceptions. This includes long-term pass-holders who are medically ineligible for vaccines as well as those who have valid entry approval such as compassionate reasons.

For this group, they will be required to take a pre-departure test within two days before departure for Singapore, undergo a seven-day stay-home notice, and take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test after their isolation period.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-reopen-borders-all-fully-vaccinated-travellers-apr-1-existing-vtls-will-be-retired-2582986?cid=internal_sharetool_androidphone_24032022_cna