Singapore plans gradual ease of border restrictions from next month

Friday, August 20, 2021

Singapore has decided to allow quarantine-free entry from Germany and Brunei to people who are vaccinated against COVID-19, starting next month. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) mentioned that the decision has been undertaken as part of the country’s plan to gradually reopen its borders.

Visitors from mentioned countries can bypass the isolation requirement if they test negative in four polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests from September 8. Border restrictions will also be progressively eased for all travel from Hong Kong and Macau from Saturday, as per the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

The announcement came shortly after the Hong Kong government said its air travel bubble plan with Singapore had been dropped. Singapore’s transport ministry said the two territories had different approaches. 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. Lawrence Wong, Finance Minister and co-chair of Singapore’s coronavirus task force said it was important to reopen the country carefully.

He mentioned that risk tolerance and risk attitudes will differ from country to country. He also shared that the country wants to get through the pandemic with minimum damage and minimum death toll while trying to resume life as normally as possible.

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