Here's massively good news for those who have missed travelling. Soon, fully vaccinated travellers from eight countries – Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Norway, South Korea and Switzerland–will be able to serve their stay-home notice at their place of residence rather than a dedicated facility. The announcement was made by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday, August 6.
From 11.59pm on August 20, those fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can travel to these countries and opt to serve their stay-home notice (SHN) at dedicated facilities. Instead, they can serve the 14-day SHN at their own place of residence. However, this is subject to a certain set of strict criteria.
How do you know if you're fully vaccinated?
An individual is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the full dosage of any Covid-19 vaccine under the World Health Organisation's Emergency Use Listing. These include the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Moderna mRNA vaccines used in Singapore's national vaccination scheme; alongside vaccines made by Sinovac, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and the Serum Institute of India's Covishield vaccine.
What are the conditions?
Okay, here's the fine print. Only Singaporeans and permanent residents are eligible, and there's an application that must be made three days before arrival. Applications will be considered if the vaccinated traveller has remained in the eight countries in the last consecutive 21 days before arriving in Singapore. The residence that they're serving stay-home notice should only be occupied by themselves alone, or with household members who are vaccinated people serving stay-home notice with the same travel history and isolation period.
All travellers must also show proof of approval to serve SHN at their place of residence when they arrive in Singapore. As usual, they must remain in their place of residence at all times during the SHN period and will be required to wear an electronic monitoring device. Travellers will also be required to utilities specially designated transportation services to and from their place of residence and bear the costs for these transport arrangements.
How do you apply?
Three days before arrival in Singapore, travellers should apply via the SafeTravel website. All travellers must present the approval to opt-out upon arrival in Singapore. All other travellers from the countries or regions must continue to serve their stay-home notice in a dedicated facility.
What about work pass holders?
From August 10, the Ministry of Manpower will resume entry approvals for fully vaccinated work pass holders and their dependents with travel history to higher risk countries or regions. However, they must be fully vaccinated before arrival in Singapore, and they will be subjected to the prevailing health protocols.
Read more:
A first hand-encounter of a quarantine order in Singapore
What a fully vaccinated person can do in Singapore