Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Singapore to open 'vaccinated travel lanes' with 8 more countries as it aims for 'new normal'

Singapore to open 'vaccinated travel lanes' with 8 more countries as it aims for 'new normal'

Singapore announced Saturday it will be opening new travel lanes for vaccinated visitors from 8 more countries.

It came as its Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong predicted it will take between three to six months to get to a “new normal” of living with Covid.

The Southeast Asian country will be launching more vaccinated travel lanes (VTL) — with Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S., the transport ministry announced.

“All 8 countries are already open to travelers from Singapore. So the VTLs will restore two-way quarantine-free travel between Singapore and them,” Transport Minister S Iswaran said Saturday.

The initiative allows quarantine-free travel for those who are vaccinated, but travelers will have to take Covid-19 tests to ensure they are not infected with the virus before entering the country.

Applications will open on Tuesday, and travelers from those countries who meet the conditions will be able to enter Singapore from Oct. 19, the minister said.

Singapore announced the initiative with South Korea on Friday. The city-state already started similar arrangements with Germany and Brunei in September.

Living with Covid


In a national address on Saturday, Singapore’s leader Lee elaborated on when the “new normal” could occur.

“How will we know when we get to the new normal? It will be when we can ease off restrictions, have just light [safe management measures] in place, and cases remain stable – perhaps hundreds a day, but not growing,” Lee said. “When our hospitals can go back to business as usual, when we can resume doing the things we used to do, and see crowds again without getting worried or feeling strange.”

He urged the nation not to be “paralyzed by fear,” and said that “sooner or later, every one of us will meet the virus — this means all the elderly will meet the virus too.”

He said regions like Europe reached this state, but “paid for it dearly” with many lives lost.

“It will take us at least three months, and perhaps as long as six months to get to this new norm,” Lee added.

Tightening measures for the unvaccinated


Singapore will also tighten some Covid restrictions for the unvaccinated.

Those who are not vaccinated will no longer be allowed to enter malls, said Gan Kim Yong, Singapore’s trade minister and co-chair of the government’s coronavirus taskforce, in a briefing Saturday. Even those vaccinated will now be subject to a limit of two people when entering malls, he said.

The unvaccinated will also not be allowed to dine-in at coffee shops and food centers — open-air food establishments in the country, where they were previously allowed to do so, limited to two people per table.

Singapore’s ministry of health said the latest measures were aimed at protecting those who were more vulnerable, such as the unvaccinated and the elderly.

Those restrictions will kick in on Wednesday.

Singapore’s Covid strategy


Singapore had maintained a zero-Covid strategy for the most part of the pandemic, but started opening up after the population’s vaccination rate hit more than 80%. As of Oct. 7, 83% of the population has completed two doses of a Covid vaccine.

But after loosening restrictions, the number of cases started spiking, reaching daily record highs and hovering above 3,400 in the last few days.

Authorities in Singapore last month tightened Covid measures again in a bid to slow community transmissions and protect hospitals from being overwhelmed. They reduced group sizes for social gatherings from five to two, and set working from home as the default, encouraging the vulnerable population such as the elderly to stay home as much as possible.

As of Friday, the total number of infections stands at 120,454, with 142 deaths. However, 98.4% of infected people over the past 28 days had no symptoms or mild symptoms, according to the country’s health ministry.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×