The Singapore government announced Thursday from April 1st it will no longer require mandatory quarantines for vaccinated travellers – providing they have a negative coronavirus test – on arrival.
The global business hub will be looking to move to a policy of living with the virus after implementing strict lockdown restrictions on both citizens and visitors.
The island nation is keen to financially recover after the pandemic, which in 2020 caused the worst recession Singapore has ever seen, partly due to restrictions on international business activities such as the closing of Singapore’s borders, with foreign visitors to the popular South East Asian nation dropping from 19 million in 2019 to 2.7 million.
Singapore will also be changing some of its domestic rules such as allowing social gathering numbers to rise from 5 to 10 people, allowing businesses to increase the number of staff members who can work in-person at offices, as well as increase crowd capacities at events, CNBC reports.
Singapore’s 5.5 million population is 90.92 per cent fully vaccinated, meaning they have had at least two coronavirus vaccines, yet the nation still has multiple restrictions in place.
The remaining restrictions include requirements for those in Singapore to wear masks in indoor public settings and social distancing of a meter between groups will also still be required.
File/Health officials conduct Covid-19 screening on migrant workers who arrived back from Malaysia and Singapore in Surabaya on April 28, 2021, before they are quarantined. (JUNI KRISWANTO/AFP via Getty)
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has pledged to “drastically streamline” testing and quarantine requirements to allow Singaporeans to travel abroad promising it will be “almost like before Covid-19”.
Loong has suggested people will be able to “resume more normal lives, enjoy larger gatherings of family and friends, go outdoors without masks, or reunite with loved ones abroad”, but did warn that citizens should not “throw all caution to the wind”.
By removing some restrictions, Singapore may be able to outcompete its historical trading rival Hong Kong – which has essentially been under the control of communist China since around 2019 – whose citizens are still being subjected to draconian coronavirus restrictions such as mandatory universal testing, mandatory masks requirements in all public spaces and a two-person limit on public gatherings.
Arrivals into Hong Kong, who must be Hong Kong citizens, are also required to undergo 14-day quarantines in government hotels, with bans placed on arrivals from foreigners, bar those commuting from mainland China, Macao and Taiwan.