Singapore announces 21-day quarantine for foreign visitors

JAKARTA, Indonesia

Singapore will impose a mandatory 21-day quarantine for foreign visitors starting on Saturday as part of measures to prevent a new wave of coronavirus, an official said late Tuesday.

Addressing a virtual news conference, Lawrence Wong, co-chair of multi-ministry COVID-19 task force, said travelers from foreign countries must be quarantined for three weeks in special facilities prepared by the government, except those from Australia, Brunei, mainland China, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Currently the country is imposing a mandatory 21-day quarantine for travelers from the UK, South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Amid worsened coronavirus situation worldwide, Wong warned against new variants and cases spreading from South Asia to Southeast Asia.

“We are adopting this more stringent border measure up until the end of May, after that time we will do a further review depending on the global and local situation and continue to update and fine-tune our border measures,” he said.

However, travelers who have stayed in Fiji and Vietnam in the past 21 days before arriving in Singapore may serve the last seven days at their residence.

The latest situation forced the island nation to review its planned travel bubble with Hong Kong.

“We will monitor the situation and we will review and assess whether or not there will be any changes,” Wong added.

Meanwhile, Singapore's Health Ministry also reduced the maximum limit of people attending meetings from eight to five starting on Saturday till May 30, while workplace capacity will be cut from current 75% to 50%.

The ministry said the measures are part of efforts to break the chains of transmission by reducing interactions among social circles and at workplaces.

Singapore reported 60 new coronavirus cases in the past week, up from 10 in the previous week, bringing total cases to over 61,000, while fatalities stand at 31.

*Writing by Rhany Chairunissa Rufinaldo with Anadolu Agency's Indonesian language services in Jakarta