Singapore to restrict entry for travellers from 7 African countries as new COVID-19 variant emerges

South Africa was beforehand a Category II nation with travellers serving a seven-day stay-home discover at their declared place of lodging after arriving in Singapore. It has now been reclassified as a Category IV nation.The different six are Category IV countries, with arriving travellers with current journey historical past to these countries at present required to serve a 10-day stay-home discover at devoted amenities.Singapore ranks countries from Category I to IV to decide what sort of journey restrictions are put in place. The new border restrictions will initially apply for 4 weeks, and MOH will evaluate and lengthen the restrictions if crucial."While the variant has been suggested to be more transmissible, there is currently insufficient evidence to determine if this variant is associated with any change in disease severity, antibody response or vaccine efficacy. These aspects are being investigated," MOH mentioned."The Ministry of Health will evaluate the data as it emerges and review our border measures accordingly."

"IMPORTANT PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE": ISWARAN

Transport Minister S Iswaran mentioned on Friday that the transfer was an “important precautionary measure”, and is a part of a “larger strategy and approach” to the reopening of Singapore’s borders.Of the seven countries listed by MOH, just one – South Africa – has direct air {links} with Singapore, with one flight a day, he added. “And even then the volumes are very low, most of them are actually transit passengers going on to other destinations, and a very small number - and I'm informed that it's under 10 a day - actually enter Singapore,” he added.He famous that Singapore has to be conscious of the scenario evolving around the globe even as it reopens.“From the perspective of reopening our borders, as we have always emphasised, even as we take measures to systematically and progressively ... reopen our borders, we have to be very mindful of the situation that is evolving around the world, including in the countries with which we have VTL (vaccinated travel lane) connections,” Mr Iswaran added.“And of course, countries are also closely studying what's happening in Singapore and our part of the world. And we must expect that in a dynamic situation like this, and with the pandemic evolving, that settings may change.”Mr Iswaran added that the VTL scheme was designed with a number of “safeguards”. These embody the necessity for travellers to be totally vaccinated in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) emergency use itemizing (EUL) normal and a restriction on the variety of travellers.“We have got several elements here in the design of the VTL scheme that can enable us to calibrate the risk in accordance with the assessment of that point in time,” he mentioned.“Ultimately, the brink is decided by the general public well being danger evaluation. And it's one thing subsequently we work very carefully with the Ministry of Health on, as a result of our overriding precedence is all the time public well being and security," he added. "So we would like to guarantee that that stays the precedence ... But there is a vary of those levers that we've got at our disposal to handle the danger and that is why it's a fixed and dynamic evaluation of the scenario.”