Singapore lifts restrictions for travellers from Taiwan
Singapore lifts border restrictions for travellers from Taiwan starting December 18.
Singapore’s Minister for Transport, Ong Ye Kung siad that the city-state was taking another step in opening its borders and Taiwan is a “very safe partner” to do a unilateral opening with.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said in a separate statement that same day that Taiwan had “a comprehensive public health surveillance system and has displayed successful control over the spread of the Covid-19 virus.”
The unilateral measure applies to visitors from Taiwan, as well as Singaporean citizens and those with permanent and long-term residence permits for the city-state, returning from Taiwan.
Visitors arriving in Singapore must have spent the previous 14 consecutive days in Taiwan before departure, and must travel to Singapore “on direct flights without transit,” said the CAAS.
Travellers from Taiwan would need to take a test on arrival, and if they test negative, they would be exempt from home quarantine. But the city-state requires incoming travellers to download a contact tracing app called “TraceTogether” and apply for an “Air Travel Pass”.
The authorities in Singapore said they would also update the travel advisory to allow travel to Taiwan. But they warned that travellers should “check the entry requirements imposed by Taiwan and take the necessary precautionary measures.”
Taiwan reduced a few weeks ago the quarantine period for so-called “essential business travellers” from Singapore to just five days. But the authorities there maintain travel restrictions on Singapore for now.
The latest initiative by Singapore follows the earlier lifting of border restrictions for visitors from Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Mainland China, New Zealand and Vietnam.
