Singapore further eases COVID travel restrictions and mask rules

SINGAPORE, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Singapore will drop the requirement for travelers who are not fully vaccinated to provide COVID test results or purchase coronavirus travel insurance from February 13, the government’s virus taskforce said on Thursday with.

Wearing masks on public transport is also not required, the health ministry said in a statement, as authorities lowered the disease outbreak response level from “yellow” to “green,” indicating COVID-19 is not threatening is.

However, masks are still mandatory in healthcare facilities where there is patient interaction and indoor patient-facing areas.

“In Singapore, our COVID situation has remained stable over the past few months, despite increased travel over the year-end holidays and China’s move away from zero COVID,” Lawrence Wong, deputy prime minister and co-chair of the virus task force, said in a media briefing.

“Our population has developed high levels of hybrid immunity,” he said.

About 80% of the city-state’s 5.6 million residents have attained minimum immunization coverage against COVID-19, and about half are up to date with their additional booster shots, health ministry data showed.

“We had to deal with many unexpected turns and surprises along the way. But we managed to get to this point together because we all played our part,” Wong said.

The public can also remove COVID-19 contact-tracing apps, and the government has purged identifiable data from its servers and database, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said.

As of April last year, Singapore had lifted most of its COVID-19 restrictions and many international events returned to the city-state, attracting tourists and businesses.

The Asian financial hub expects the tourism sector to recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2024.

Reporting by Chen Lin Edited by Ed Davies

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