The Singapore government announced on 16 February 2022 that it will extend the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme to several countries. These countries included Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the Philippines, Israel, UAE, and a new VTL to Hong Kong. the scheme came into force in a phased manner starting from 25 February.
This decision allowed vaccinated travelers to fly quarantine-free into Singapore from the approved countries. Singapore said it will gradually lift the 50% cap on VTL travelers to let more people in.
In a press release, the Ministry of Health said, “We will progressively launch VTLs with more destination as we move towards facilitating fully vaccinated travel”.
Within 24 hours of arrival, travelers from these low-risk countries will have to go through a supervised antigen rapid test (ART) instead of the costly polymerase chain.
According to the Singapore Consul General in Dubai, many people had been anxiously waiting for the restriction to be eased down by the government.
He said, “I have often been asked by businessmen in Dubai when they can travel to Singapore quarantine-free. I am aware that many Singapore businessmen had deferred travel to the UAE due to the SHN requirement in Singapore. We can expect to see business travel pic up from Expo 2020 Dubai and the trade exhibitions here”.
