Singapore, with a vaccination rate that is among the world’s best, is reopening its borders to more destinations.
At the current 76% full inoculation, the country is on track to be ahead of its schedule to reach 80% by early September, a milestone where officials have pledged to ease more measures, particularly on border reopening.
According to the latest announcements, travelers from Hong Kong and Macao, regardless of vaccination status, can now apply for an air travel pass to enter Singapore as early as August 26.
They will need to take a Covid test when they arrive in Singapore, and self-isolate until they receive a negative test result. There will be no need to serve quarantine.
Visitors need to have spent the last 21 consecutive days in Hong Kong or Macao before traveling to Singapore.
This arrangement is unilateral, which means people traveling from Singapore to Hong Kong or Macao will be subject to the rules of each destination.
Singapore said vaccinated travelers from Germany and Brunei can enter from September 8 without having to quarantine and without the need to have a purpose for visiting or controlled itinerary. Since Germany is already open to people arriving from the city-state, this effectively starts the island nation’s first transcontinental travel bubble.
Singapore has unilaterally opened its borders to travelers from Taiwan, New Zealand and most visitors from mainland China. The Southeast Asian country closed its borders to Australia and Vietnam after a resurgence of the virus in those countries.
Visitors who been fully inoculated with a vaccine under the World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergency use list will be issued “tamper-proof” vaccination stickers. Vaccines under the WHO’s emergency use list include Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinovac-CoronaVac and Sinopharm.
These stickers will be affixed to the passports of the travelers. To obtain this sticker, travelers must produce an English-language vaccination certificate at immigration checkpoints when they arrive in Singapore.
