Australia to allow quarantine-free travel for travellers from Singapore

Australia will let fully-vaccinated travellers coming from Singapore to enter the states of New South Wales and Victoria without having to quarantine from Nov. 21. 

The move follows Singapore announcing on Oct. 26 that it would allow quarantine-free entry for visitors arriving from Australia as well as Switzerland from Nov. 8, adding to a list of about 10 countries with which it has so-called vaccinated travel lanes. 

“Singapore is the second country after New Zealand that Australia is opening up to,” Singapore Transport Minister S. Iswaran wrote on Facebook. “This is a significant move. Families and loved ones can reunite, students can resume their studies, and businesspeople and tourists can once again travel.”

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Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan also wrote about the Australian plan on his Facebook account, saying it was particularly good news for Singaporean students enrolled in universities in the two states as they’d be able to resume their studies there.  

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison mentioned the decision to reopen to Singapore at a press briefing in Rome on Sunday, though he didn’t specify a date. 

“Australia is open. Australians are traveling again. Victoria has reached 80% vaccination. Australia’s opening up to Singapore, opening up to New Zealand. The National Plan is working,” he said at the start of the briefing. 

While Singapore has vaccinated 84% of its population against Covid-19, it faces a virus caseload topping 3,000 per day, prompting the government to recently extend curbs on social gatherings. 

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