Six more countries -- Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Turkey and Fiji -- have been added to the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) programme.
The VTL to Thailand will commence on Dec 14, while the VTLs to the other five countries will begin on Dec 16.
Applications will open one week before the start of the respective VTLs.
Of the six countries, five of them have already reopened their borders to vaccinated travellers from Singapore. Fiji will reopen its borders to travellers from Singapore on Dec 1.
The move was announced by Minister for Transport S Iswaran via a press statement on Nov 26.
The addition brings the total number of countries under Singapore’s VTL programme to 27.
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See: Briefs: Keppel counters with ‘final offer’ for SPH; Singapore Malaysia to launch VTL
With the addition of the six countries, Iswaran announced that Singapore will increase the daily quota for its VTLs to 15,000 from 10,000.
The VTL quotas come to about one-third of the pre-Covid-19 flows from the 27 countries at Changi.
See also: Covid-19 global health emergency is over after three years: WHO
Pre-Covid-19, the same countries contributed about 60% of the total daily arrivals in Singapore.
Travel to Europe
Touching on the recent equivalence decision made by the European Commission, Iswaran says he “welcomes” the decision.
He adds that Singapore is the first country in Southeast Asia to have been accorded such a status.
On Nov 25, the European Commission announced that it will recognize Singapore’s Covid-19 certificates as the equivalent of the European Union’s (EU) Digital Covid Certificate.
The decision was effective on the same day.
This means those holding a Covid-19 certificate issued by Singapore will be able to use it under the same conditions as those holding a Covid-19 certificate issued by the EU.
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According to Iswaran, both agencies are finalizing the technical link-up and will issue vaccination and test certificates compatible to the EU’s Digital Covid Certificate from Dec 7.
“From Dec 7, travellers from VTL countries with EU Digital Covid Certificates, even if these are issued in non-VTL countries, will be able to travel to Singapore on the VTLs,” he adds.
In light of the recent resurgence of Covid-19 cases, Iswaran has urged Singaporeans and residents to closely monitor the situation in the countries they are visiting.
In addition, he says the government will “closely monitor the global public health situation, especially for the emergence of any new variants of concern, and impose additional safeguards as necessary”.
“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.”
Photo: Bloomberg
