SINGAPORE: Singapore will extend quarantine-free vaccinated travel lanes to six more countries from next month, in a bid to rebuild the city-state's status as an international aviation hub with global connectivity, the national aviation authority announced on Friday.
Fully vaccinated travellers from Thailand may enter Singapore under the quarantine-free travel lane (VTL) from December 14.
Those coming from Cambodia, Fiji, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Turkey can do so from December 16, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said.
This latest move will increase the number of countries with which Singapore has VTL arrangements to 27.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, these 27 countries contributed to about 60 per cent of the total daily arrivals at the country's Changi Airport, CAAS said.
"This latest extension will further broaden Changi's network and help reclaim and rebuild Singapore's status as an international aviation hub with global connectivity," the Channel News Asia reported quoting CAAS.
Under the VTL scheme, fully vaccinated travellers on designated VTL flights can enter Singapore without undergoing quarantine.
They are only required to undergo COVID-19 testing.
"The expansion of the VTL scheme to these countries will continue to restore two-way quarantine-free travel between Singapore and VTL countries whose borders are now open to us," said CAAS.
Meanwhile, Singapore will classify Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Liechtenstein and Slovakia as Category III countries from 11.
59pm on December 1, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a separate news release on Friday.
This follows the "worsening situation" in the six European countries, MOH said.
Travellers from Category III countries are required to serve a 10-day stay-home notice at their place of accommodation, in addition to COVID-19 testing.