Amid mounting evidence that the Omicron variant is less threatening than its predecessors, Singapore plans to substantially ease travel and social restrictions once the current wave of Covid infections peaks.
The government will restore and progressively raise quotas on so-called vaccinated travel lanes, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. Visitors entering the city-state via these VTLs from February 22 will not need to take a polymerase chain reaction test upon arrival and can take a supervised self-swab instead.
This will pave the way for potentially allowing quarantine-free travel for anyone who is vaccinated once infections have peaked, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung told reporters. The limit on the number of people allowed to dine together in restaurants could be lifted to eight or more from five now once the Omicron wave has passed.
"We will be able to take further significant steps to ease after we have passed the peak of this wave, which can happen in the coming weeks," Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said at the same briefing.
Singapore has sought to revive its air hub status with quarantine-free travel agreements with two dozen countries. New VTL flights with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will start on February 25, while travellers from Israel and the Philippines can enter on or after March 4.
Singapore's plans are a sharp contrast to rival financial centre Hong Kong, which is less vaccinated and has clung at Beijing's behest to a restrictive Covid-zero policy Singapore abandoned last year. Hong Kong has largely shut down air travel and imposed strict quarantines on arrival.
Hong Kong and Singapore are both grappling with their worst daily Covid caseloads of the pandemic to date.
