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Singapore eyes quarantine-free travel with US before year-end
Singapore, a travel and tourism hub, began a similar program for travellers from Germany and Brunei last month as part of a gradual easing of its COVID-19 border controls.
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People pass the control tower of Singapore's Changi Airport, Singapore January 18, 2021.
(Reuters/Edgar Su)
S
ingapore is working on allowing quarantine-free entry to travelers from the United States who are vaccinated against COVID-19 before the end of the year, its minister for trade and industry said on Thursday.
Singapore, a travel and tourism hub, began a similar program for travelers from Germany and Brunei last month as part of a gradual easing of its COVID-19 border controls.
"We have had successful pilots of Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) with Germany and Brunei to facilitate the entry of fully vaccinated individuals into Singapore for business and leisure," said Gan Kim Yong said in a speech during a visit to Washington DC.
"We are now working on a VTL with the US as soon as possible, and certainly before the end of the year."
Vaccinated visitors in the VTL can bypass the isolation requirements if they test negative in polymerase chain reaction tests.
Singapore's health ministry reported 3,577 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic, while it recorded three new deaths from the disease.
A recent spike in infections after the relaxation of some restrictions has prompted Singapore to pause further reopening. It also tightened curbs from last week that limited social gatherings to two people and made work from home a default.
More than 80 percent of Singapore's population has been vaccinated against the virus.
