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.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS