SINGAPORE: Singapore will suspend reciprocal green lane travel arrangement with Malaysia, Germany and South Korea for three months from Monday due to the resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the world.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday said that Singapore will continue to monitor the global situation and adjust border measures to manage the risk of importation and transmission of the deadly virus.
"Given the resurgence of COVID-19 cases worldwide, the Government of Singapore will be suspending the reciprocal green lane (RGL) arrangements with Germany, Malaysia, and the Republic of Korea, for a period of three months beginning from Monday, February 1, 2021, 0001hrs," the ministry said in a statement.
"The Government of Singapore will review the Reciprocal Green Lane arrangements at the end of the suspension period. Travellers who have already been approved to enter Singapore under these Reciprocal Green Lanes can continue to do so," it said.
The RGL arrangement allows residents of countries in the scheme to conduct short-term travel for essential business and official purposes in Singapore for up to 14 days.
Singapore still has ongoing RGL arrangements with Brunei and selected cities in mainland China - Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Tianjin and Zhejiang.
The country earlier suspended RGL arrangement with Indonesia and Japan in December.
According to the Ministry of Health, there are 25 cases of the new B117 variant of COVID-19 as of January 26.
Twenty of the cases are imported from Europe and five are from the local community.
The B117 SARS-CoV-2 variant is one of the few mutated strains of the coronavirus to have caused concern around the world as it is said to be potentially more contagious.
It has spread to 70 countries and territories now.
On Saturday, Singapore reported 58 new COVID-19 cases, 53 of which are imported and the rest local, the ministry said.
With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country has reached 59,507 with 29 fatalities.
Thirty three people have been discharged from hospitals and other facilities, bringing the country's total recoveries to 59,181.
There are 47 cases still in hospital but most of them are stable or improving, while another 192 are being isolated and cared for at community facilities.