S’pore to have ‘vaccinated travel lane’ with India

S’pore to have ‘vaccinated travel lane’ with India

Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi  16.11.2021

Singapore on Monday announced to finally reopen its doors for fully vaccinated travellers from India starting November 29, through a “vaccinated travel lane” (VTL). Travellers under VTL are not subject to stay-home notice (SHN) on arrival. Instead, they need to produce a negative pre-departure test taken within two days prior to departure and undergo an on arrival PCR test, stated the island nation’s health ministry.

“Following discussions between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore will be launching a VTL for fully-vaccinated travellers from India with valid entry approvals starting November 29, pending resumption of commercial passenger flights,” the Singapore mission in India tweeted on Monday.

A Singapore Airlines (SIA) spokesperson said: “SIA does not currently operate passenger flights between Singapore and India. We remain guided by the authorities on our passenger services to and from India, and seek our customers’ patience and understanding while the bilateral air travel arrangements are being finalised. SIA will provide more information when it is available.”

Giving details of this much-awaited announcement, the Singapore government website stated: “To date, we have launched VTLs with Australia, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Korea, Spain, Switzerland, UK, and the US. We will be launching VTLs with Malaysia, Finland, and Sweden on November 29, 2021. We intend to launch VTLs with India and Indonesia from November 29, 2021, and with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE from December 6, 2021.” “Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore will provide more details desperately,” it added.