Singapore Expands Vaccinated Travel Lanes to Five More Countries

Singapore added five more countries to its Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) as part of efforts to further reopen its borders, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Nov. 15.

Under the expanded VTL, fully vaccinated travelers from India and Indonesia will no longer need to serve the stay-at-home notice starting Nov. 29. The same will take effect for travelers coming from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Dec. 6. Travelers are still required to undergo COVID-19 testing under the VTL scheme.

Singapore will begin accepting Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP) applications on Nov. 22 for India and Indonesia and Nov. 29 for Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, the MOH added. Returning permanent residents are exempted from applying for a VTP.

In a separate release, Singapore Transport Minister S. Israwan said the additional five countries “have similar or lower COVID-19 incidence rates than Singapore and the other VTL countries.”

He added that the city-state will increase the daily VTL quota applicable to all qualified countries to 10,000 from 6,000 travelers.

Singapore launched the VTL scheme in September with two countries, Brunei Darussalam and Germany. It gradually expanded to cover more countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Most recently, Singapore added Malaysia to the list.