With Singapore steadily getting back on its feet after more than 6-months of methodical and stringent regulations, visitors are looking forward to being able to travel to this island city for businesses, education, and holidays.
The government has introduced several border control measures in response to Covid-19 to prevent the rise of a second wave and subsequent potential lockdown.
With the Phase 2 circuit breaker measures still in place, the government has announced its plans to roll out Phase 3 in the near future which would see a further relaxation of safety regulations and travel restrictions.
As the global situation continues to face economic uncertainty due to the pandemic, countries have adopted varying strategies to recover from the crisis by assessing the gravity of the situation within their borders including implementing effective systems to control the COVID-19 infection.
The promising interim results of vaccines being developed against COVID-19 have helped boost the confidence of the international community and with the prospects of its success, a global recovery may happen sooner than expected.
Singapore meanwhile will implement progressive measures with a view to re-open international travel. Singapore’s border and health control measures are getting updated in response to the evolving global COVID-19 situation.
Travellers planning to enter Singapore must comply with the prevailing border control measures and public health requirements. Here is a brief summary of the measures introduced*:
| Measures | Eligibility | Countries |
| Air Travel Pass | The Air Travel Pass (ATP) enables foreigners who are short term visitors departing from listed countries/regions to seek entry into Singapore. | Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, Mainland China, New Zealand, Vietnam |
| Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) | The Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) facilitates short term essential business and official travel between the listed counterpart countries/regions and Singapore. The RGL is only applicable for travel between Singapore and the foreign RGL counterpart using non- stop flight routes (no transit in other countries). | Brunei Darussalam, GermanyMainland China (Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Tianjin and Zhejiang), Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea *Health measures will differ for each of the abovementioned countries, with some requiring Stay Home Notice and/or quarantine requirements for others. Please visit the information page on ICA website for the respective countries' process. |
| Periodic Commuting Arrangement | PCA travellers entering Singapore from 22 November 2020, 2359 hours, who have a travel history in the past 14 days to Malaysia will now be required to serve a 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) at dedicated and SHN facilities. Travellers who are not Singapore Citizens or Singapore Permanent Residents, and who have recent travel history to Malaysia within the last 14 days prior to entry will be required to take a COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test within 72 hours before departure. This requirement will take effect for all inbound PCA travellers arriving in Singapore from 27 November 2020, 2359 hours. | Malaysia |
| Singapore-Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble (ATB) | The Singapore-Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble allows for quarantine-free travel between the two cities, provided the eligibility criteria were met. ~Given the evolving COVID-19 situation in Hong Kong, the launch of the Singapore – Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble (ATB) flights has been deferred~ Travellers to Hong Kong will be subject to the prevailing border control and health requirements of Hong Kong. | Hong Kong |
*As of 1st December 2020.
Travel regulations are frequently updated by the Immigrations & Checkpoints Authority (ICA). Check out their Border/Health Control Measures Summary for more details.
Roadmap to Phase 3
When arriving in Singapore, it is important to be aware of the key measures and regulations in place to help curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country. The Singapore Government’s response to mitigating the global pandemic was in the form of three phases post the circuit breaker measures.
The Multi-Ministry Task Force (MTF) announced our road map for Phase Three on 20 Oct 2020. Phase Three is not a return to the pre-COVID status quo, but a new normal which will last until such time the rest of the world also has the virus under tight control or when effective treatments or vaccines are widely available. Phase 3 is expected to last for a prolonged period (potentially a year or more) and once rolled out along with new measures, it will enable us greater flexibility to live, work and socialise while staying safe.
| Phase 3 Measures | |
| Group Gatherings | To consider an increase in the group size limit from the current 5 persons to 8 persons in Phase Three for dining and social gatherings. |
| Weddings | To consider raising the cap on number of wedding participants beyond 100 in zones or timeslots of no more than 50 each. For such higher-risk events, the government will need to put in place additional measures to ensure that they can be conducted safely. |
| Contact Tracing | Progressively rolling out TraceTogether and SafeEntry to ensure that all those who are visiting places where they are likely to be in contact with many others for prolonged periods, or where human traffic is high, have the TraceTogether App or Token. |
| Covid-19 Testing | Piloting the use of pre-event testing to allow higher-risk activities. Use of alternative test kits such as antigen rapid tests which can return fairly accurate results quickly, within half an hour or so. |
The Helmi Talib Group has been keeping itself up to date with the latest changes taking place so that we can ensure to continue providing service excellence like always before. Keeping in line with the current Phase 2 safe management measures, our office is operating with up to 50% of the workplace capacity in the office, while the remaining employees continue to work from home.
Singapore is certainly in a better position today than earlier in the year with its effective response to Covid-19 pandemic. From improving healthcare capacity, introducing contact tracing apps, expanding testing capabilities, to slowly but steadily re-opening international travel- the country is positive that the situation is bound to improve with time.
