Singapore is extending its list of vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs) to travelers coming from Thailand beginning on December 14, 2021.
This means that vaccinated passengers from Thailand to Singapore (and vice versa) will no longer be quarantined once they arrive at their respective destinations, but Covid-19 testing is still in effect.
The development was announced by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) on Friday (November 26).
Thailand made the ease of restriction to vaccinated travelers from Singapore a month earlier. As of November 1, quarantine is no longer required for passengers coming from Singapore as long as they have been fully inoculated with vaccines approved by the Royal Thai Government, namely:
- Janssen (Johnson & Johnson)
- Moderna AstraZeneca
- CoronaVac (Sinovac)
- Pfizer-BioNTech
- Sputnik V
- Covilo (Sinopharm)
The other countries added to Singapore’s VTL program are Cambodia, Fiji, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Turkey but will take effect starting from Dec 16, 2021.
These countries are part of the 27 in which Singapore has VTL agreements. These 27 countries had contributed to more than 50% of the total daily arrivals at the famous Changi Airport before the Covid-19 pandemic struck according to CAAS.
“This latest extension will further broaden Changi’s network and help reclaim and rebuild Singapore’s status as an international aviation hub with global connectivity,” said the authority.
From 10,000, Singapore is now expecting around 15,000 daily arrivals through VTLs with this latest development.
Despite the steady relaxation of its borders to boost the economy, Singapore will continue to tighten the implementation of its anti-Covid measures, according to Singapore Transport Minister S Iswaran.
“Even as we continue to reopen our borders to secure Singapore’s position as a global business and aviation hub, we will closely monitor the global public health situation, especially for the emergence of any new variants of concern, and impose additional safeguards as necessary,” said Mr Iswaran.
“This is integral to our careful and calibrated approach to reopening our borders, and tightening our safeguards when warranted by the latest public health risk assessment,” he added.
Mr. Iswaran also reminded the travelers to closely track the situations, be “well-informed and updated” on the latest public health and border measures, as well as to have their contingency plans when an unfavorable situation occurs.
Source: channelnewsasia