Singapore to launch its first vaccinated travel lanes with Germany and Brunei

Singapore will launch its first vaccinated travel lanes with Germany and Brunei on Sep 8, announced the COVID-19 multi-ministry task force on Thursday (Aug 19).

Under the travel lanes, fully vaccinated travellers departing from Germany or Brunei can enter Singapore without serving a stay-home notice.

However, they must undergo multiple COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests – a pre-departure test within 48 hours of the scheduled flight, an on-arrival test at Changi Airport, and post-arrival tests on days three and seven at a designated clinic in Singapore.

Failing to complete the required tests is a chargeable offence under the Infectious Diseases Act. Those who do not comply may be issued a stay-home notice to be quarantined in a dedicated facility, authorities said.

A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after they have received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or other vaccines listed under the World Health Organization (WHO) emergency use list, such as Sinovac and AstraZeneca.

This means that children under the age of 12, who cannot be vaccinated yet, will not be able to travel under this scheme.

The vaccinated travel lanes will be open to all travel purposes, whether for leisure, business or to visit family, said the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

Travellers do not need to follow a controlled itinerary or have a sponsor, but they must have remained in Singapore or their country of departure – Germany or Brunei – in the last 21 consecutive days before they depart for Singapore.

They also must travel to Singapore on non-stop designated flights, which will only serve travellers on the vaccinated travel lanes, said CAAS in a press release.

The designated flights from Germany will be run by Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa. The current plan is to have seven flights a week or one flight a day from Frankfurt or Munich.

Currently, people can travel from Singapore to Germany without restrictions on vaccination status and quarantine requirements, CAAS noted.

With the vaccinated travel lanes, if travellers return to Singapore from Germany on the designated flights, they will not need to serve a stay-home notice here, and will instead be subject to routine testing.

Singapore Airlines and Royal Brunei Airlines will run the designated flights from Brunei to Singapore, and there will be three designated flights a week.

Under previous travel arrangements, travellers from Brunei were allowed to go about their activities in Singapore without serving a stay-home notice if their on-arrival COVID-19 PCR test results were negative.

Outside of the vaccinated travel lanes, Singapore will be tightening border control measures for those with travel history to Brunei due to the increased number of COVID-19 cases there, said the Health Ministry in a separate press release.