Vikrant Shekhawat : Nov 16, 2021, 07:54 AM
New Delhi: India is among five states added by the Singapore government to its list of countries from where, travellers fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) will not be required to quarantine upon arrival in the city-state. While quarantine-free travel from India and Indonesia to Singapore will begin from November 29, that from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar will commence from December 6, Singapore’s health ministry announced in a statement.“Following discussions between PMs @NarendraModi and @LeeHsienLoong, Singapore will be launching a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) for fully-vac travellers from India with valid entry approvals-starting 29 Nov-pending resumption of commercial passenger flights,” the Singapore in India handle, the common Twitter account for the country’s diplomatic missions in India, which are based in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, said.The two Prime Ministers held a bilateral meet on October 30, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome, Italy.Singapore currently has the VTL with 13 countries, including the United States, Canada and Italy. On November 29, the number will rise to 18, with the addition of India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Finland and Sweden. Then, on December 6, when Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar join the list, this number will rise further to 21. At present, not more than 6000 people are allowed to enter the city-state, each day, under the programme; this will increase to 10,000 when the latest countries are added. As of November 14, more than 24,000 fully vaccinated visitors have arrived in Singapore under the arrangement.On October 26, Indians once again became eligible to fly to Singapore though they had to quarantine upon arrival. Also, since all scheduled international commercial passenger flights to and from India remain suspended, only repatriation services are available between the two countries. The ban has been in place since March last year, when the first national Covid-19 lockdown was announced.There will be two daily flights each to Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai once the ban on international flights is removed.