Singapore: Stay-home notice cut short for travellers from high-risk areas

Singapore (VNA) -  All new travellers with recent travel history in the past 21 days to higher risk countries/regions immediately prior to arrival in Singapore will have their stay-home notice (SHN) cut to 14 days, instead of 21 days, to be served at dedicated facilities as from June 23, said the local Health Ministry.

According to the ministry’s statement issued on June 23, the group will undergo COVID-19 PCR tests on-arrival and on Day 14 of their arrival. They will be allowed to end their SHN as long as they have a negative result for their PCR test on Day 14 of their arrival.

In addition to the above-said test, all travellers serving the SHN in dedicated SHN facilities will also undergo ART self-administered tests on the third, seventh and eleventh day after arriving in Singapore. This new requirement will be implemented for new arrivals from June 27.

The ministry said that while there is increased transmissibility with the new variants of concern, it found no evidence – from both overseas and local data – that these variants come with longer incubation periods.

It added that since the 21-day SHN for all travellers with recent travel history to higher-risk countries or regions was implemented from May 8, there were 270 imported cases among such travellers, as at June 22.

Singapore is also set to receive a batch of COVID-19 vaccines called Comirnaty produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, as it ramps up supplies to get as many people inoculated as possible./.