The Financial Associated Press (Shanghai, editor Ale), the Singaporean government announced on Saturday (October 9) that it will open travel channels for tourists from 8 countries who have been vaccinated.
The eight countries are Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Minister of Transport Yi Huaren said, “These 8 countries are already open to travelers from Singapore. Therefore, Singapore’s VTLs (vaccinated channels) will resume two-way travel without isolation with these countries.” Singapore has previously Two-way non-isolated travel with Germany, Brunei and South Korea.
Yi Huaren said that entry applications will be opened next Tuesday, and eligible travelers from these countries will be able to enter Singapore from October 19. However, travelers must undergo COVID-19 testing to ensure that they are not infected with the virus when they enter the country.
New normal
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a national speech on Saturday that it is expected that Singapore will take at least three months to six months to reach the “new normal”. “How do we know when we enter the new normal? That is, after the government relaxes the restrictions on social epidemic prevention measures, there will be no surge in new crown cases-it can maintain a stable state of hundreds of cases.”
He added, “When our hospital can resume normal operations, when we can resume doing what we did in the past, when we see the crowd not worrying or feeling strange, the public can return to their normal living conditions.”
Lee Hsien Loong said that fighting the new crown pneumonia epidemic is a long battle. He urged the people of Singapore not to be “paralyzed by fear”. Compared with a year or six months ago, Singapore has expanded its medical resources and its herd immunity has improved. Singapore is moving steadily towards the “new normal”. In the future, the country may cause a surge in new crown cases due to new virus mutations, and it will tighten epidemic prevention measures if necessary.
Tighten vaccine policy
However, the “new normal” does not mean the relaxation of overall policies. Singapore will also tighten some restrictions on those who have not been vaccinated.
Singapore’s Minister of Trade and Industry and co-chair of the COVID-19 Working Group, Yan Jinyong, said in a briefing on Saturday that people who have not been vaccinated will no longer be allowed to enter the mall. He said that even people who have been vaccinated cannot have more than two people together when they enter the mall.
In addition, people who have not been vaccinated will not be allowed to eat in cafes and open-air restaurants. The Ministry of Health of Singapore stated that these restrictions will come into effect next Wednesday and are aimed at protecting those who are more vulnerable, such as unvaccinated people and the elderly.
Give up the ups and downs of “clearing”
Since the outbreak of the new crown pandemic, Singapore has maintained a “zero” epidemic prevention strategy for a long time, and the direct vaccination rate reached 80% before it began to gradually open up.
However, after the restrictions were relaxed last month, the number of new cases per day began to soar, reaching an all-time high.
As a result, the Singaporean government tightened the new crown measures again last month to slow community transmission and protect the normal operation of hospitals. They reduced the number of groups for social gatherings from 5 to 2, set working from home as the default option for companies, and encouraged vulnerable groups such as the elderly to stay at home as much as possible.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, as of press time, the cumulative number of confirmed new crowns in Singapore is 124,157, and 153 patients have died. In the past 28 days, 52,990 people were diagnosed and 95 people died. As of October 7, 83% of the population had completed two doses of vaccination.