Singapore is lifting its quarantine requirement for travellers arriving from Macao and Hong Kong.
From midnight tonight, Hong Kong and Macao visitors will be allowed to enter Singapore without the need for quarantine and regardless of their vaccination status.
“Singapore will unilaterally open to visitors from Hong Kong, which is in Category 1. Similar to visitors from other very low risk countries and regions like mainland China (excluding Jiangsu province), New Zealand and Taiwan, visitors from Hong Kong will be allowed to enter Singapore with just an on-arrival polymerase chain reaction test (PCR),” said the city state’s Minister for Transport, S Iswaran.
Visitors will also need to take PCR tests on the third and seventh days of their stay in Singapore.
Authorities there added that the updated rules will also apply to travellers from Macao though travellers will still need to serve quarantine upon return to their home city.
The easing of travel restrictions came as the Hong Kong and Singapore governments announced that they have decided to end their talks on a travel bubble.
“All along, it was premised upon similar anti-epidemic strategies adopted by the two places, aiming to reduce local caseloads to a minimum,” said a Hong Kong government spokesman.
“With Singapore currently moving towards a new strategy of building a ‘Covid-resilient’ nation, the basic premises that underpin the Air Travel Bubble have changed.”
Singaporean officials earlier acknowledged that the city state may continue to see a relatively high number of daily cases as it moves to ease curbs and let the novel coronavirus become part of a “new normal”.
Singapore is currently categorised as a medium-risk location by Hong Kong, and fully-vaccinated arrivals will have to go through 14-days of compulsory quarantine at a designated hotel under tightened restrictions that will come into effect today.
As of Wednesday, 77 per cent of Singapore’s 5.7 million residents were fully vaccinated and 82 per cent had received at least one dose.
