How Indians will benefit from Singapore’s conditional lifting of travel restrictions

Singapore will lift its travel ban for citizens from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Pakistan from October 26. People with a 14-day travel history to these countries will be once again allowed to come into the city-state. However, the country’s government has announced that the travellers would still go through its Category IV border measures.

Category IV border measures
Category IV, the strictest of Singapore’s four restriction levels, allows entry only to permanent residents and citizens of Singapore, and travellers under the Death and Critical Illness Emergency Visits Lane.

Other travellers, including those who received approvals for prior entry, are not allowed to enter. Eligible travellers will need to undertake an RT-PCR test not more than 48 hours before departure, take another test upon arriving in Singapore, and spend 10 days at a quarantine facility.

Singapore relaxations
The Singapore Ministry of Health said the country had previously announced that travellers with a 14-day travel history to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan would not be allowed to enter or transit through the country. The ministry has reviewed the Covid-19 situation in these countries and decided to lift the restrictions from 26. These travellers will be subject to Singapore’s Category IV border measures, the ministry said.

Travel to Singapore
Singapore earlier granted permission to people from countries where the Covid-19 situation is under control to enter its territory. To beat the ban on travellers from India, those wanting to visit Singapore were spending 14 days in a third country before taking a flight to Singapore. Singapore also introduced the vaccinated travel lanes with Germany and Brunei Darussalam in August. These are extensions of travel corridors, but meant only for fully vaccinated travellers. It has since extended the vaccinated travel lanes to Italy, France, Denmark, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, the US, Canada, and South Korea.

Countries allowing travel from India
The likes of Spain, Germany, the Maldives, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, and Turkey are allowing Indian travellers to a certain extent. The Turkish Embassy in New Delhi announced last month that fully vaccinated travellers flying to Turkey from India would no longer need to undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival. Germany re-classified India to “high (Covid) incidence areas” in August, down from the higher restriction “virus variant areas”, and removed the ban on entry for travellers from India. Spain is also allowing fully-vaccinated travellers from India.