Starting on Tuesday, travelers arriving in Singapore from Taiwan and other places with low COVID-19 infection rates would only need to take an unsupervised self-swab antigen rapid test (ART) within 24 hours of arrival, Singaporean Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong (顏金勇) said on Friday.
The new policy is to replace the current protocol that requires arrivals from category I countries and regions, who are not required to undergo quarantine, to take a supervised self-swab rapid test at one of the testing centers in the city-state within 24 hours of arrival.
Taiwan and China, including Macau, are among category I countries and regions with low infection numbers, Singaporean media have reported.
Photo: Reuters
Gan, who is also cochair of Singapore’s multiministry task force on COVID-19, said the move aims to further simplify border measures.
“Effective March 15, instead of a supervised self-swab ART, vaccinated travelers and individuals from cat I countries and regions will just need to take an unsupervised self-swab ART within 24 hours of their arrival,” Gan said during an online task force meeting.
However, people traveling to Singapore must still undergo a COVID-19 test within two days of boarding their flight and must report the results of the self-swab ART, Singaporean media have reported.
The number of imported COVID-19 cases in Singapore has been low over the past few weeks, the task force said.
The cases make up about 1 percent of total daily cases, and many countries have passed peak COVID-19 infections caused by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, it said.
In other developments, Taiwan and the Philippines have agreed to mutually recognize each other’s COVID-19 vaccination certificates, meaning that travelers with Taiwan-issued certificates would no longer need to quarantine upon arriving in the Philippines.
Taipei and Manila recognize each other’s international vaccination certificates and digital vaccine certificates, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines said.
The agreement stemmed from complaints filed last month by Taiwanese who said they had to quarantine upon arriving in the Philippines, because the country did not recognize their Taiwan-issued vaccination certificates.
They were led to believe that there would be no problems after Manila on Jan. 27 said that it would lift a nearly two-year ban on foreign tourists and allow travelers with a vaccination certificate and who test negative for COVID-19 to enter the country without quarantine, starting on Feb. 1.
However, the Philippine Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases listed requirements for proof of vaccination which Taiwan did not meet.
One of them required a digital certificate from a foreign government that accepts the Philippines’ certificate under a reciprocal arrangement. Taiwan did not recognize the Philippines’ vaccination certificate at the time.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
PLANE HIT: The Israeli military said it shot down an Iranian Air Force fighter over Tehran, while an Iranian warship sank off Sri Lanka, with no cause known The US and Israel yesterday hit Iran’s capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on the fifth day of the war with Iran. Israel targeted the Iranian leadership and security forces, while the Islamic Republic responded with missile barrages and drone attacks on Israel, and across the region. Tehran residents woke to dawn blasts and Iranian state television showed the ruins of building in the center of the capital. The Shiite seminary city of Qom and multiple other cities were also targeted. With fighter jets roaring overhead, those still in Tehran looked anxiously to the skies. One man, who ran a clothing shop,
Taiwan pineapples are to be exported to the US for the first time later this year, after the US yesterday announced importation requirements, the Ministry of Agriculture said today. The US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service yesterday published a draft of requirements to import Taiwanese pineapples, with a 62-day comment period, the ministry said in a news release. The US maintains strict requirements for imported fresh fruit, it said. The ministry’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency applied to export pineapples to the US in 2020 and has since cooperated with the US to provide all the necessary information and reports, it
RSS