Singapore relaxes coronavirus travel curbs, mask rules further

SINGAPORE — Singapore will drop a requirement for vacationers who will not be absolutely vaccinated to indicate COVID check outcomes or buy coronavirus travel insurance coverage from Feb. 13, the federal government’s virus taskforce mentioned on Thursday.

Masks may also not be required to be worn on public transport, the well being ministry mentioned in a press release, as authorities lowered the illness outbreak response degree to “green” from “yellow,” indicating COVID-19 shouldn’t be threatening.

Nevertheless, masks will nonetheless be necessary in healthcare settings, the place there’s interplay with sufferers and in indoor patient-facing areas.

“Within Singapore our COVID situation has remained stable over the recent months, despite increased travel over the year-end holidays and China’s shift from zero COVID,” Lawrence Wong, deputy prime minister and co-chair of the virus taskforce, informed a media briefing.

“Our population has developed a high level of hybrid immunity,” he mentioned.

Round 80% of the city-state’s 5.6 million inhabitants have achieved minimal COVID-19 vaccination safety, and round half are updated with their extra booster pictures, well being ministry knowledge confirmed.

“We’ve had to deal with many unexpected curveballs and surprises along the way. But we managed to reach this point together because we all did our part,” Mr. Wong mentioned.

The general public may also take away COVID-19 contact-tracing apps, and the federal government has deleted identifiable knowledge from its servers and database, well being minister Ong Ye Kung mentioned.

Since April final yr, Singapore had lifted most of its COVID-19 restrictions with many worldwide occasions returning to the city-state, attracting vacationers and companies.

The Asian monetary hub is anticipating the tourism sector to get better to pre-pandemic ranges by 2024. — Reuters

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