Australia to Allow Quarantine-Free Travel From Singapore

(Bloomberg) -- Australia will allow fully-vaccinated travelers 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 start quarantine-free entry for visitors arriving from Australia as well as Switzerland on Nov. 8, adding to a list of about 10 countries with which it has so-called vaccinated travel lanes. 

“The quarantine-free travel arrangements will commence on Nov. 21 for Australian states and territories that are ready,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement Monday. The arrangement “will be available for fully vaccinated Singaporeans traveling from Singapore who present a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of departure.”

The decision came after Morrison met with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Group of 20 Leaders’ Summit in Rome over the weekend. Australia allowed quarantine-free travel from New Zealand from Sunday. 

“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.”

Singapore’s 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.

“This means within weeks Australia will be welcoming tourists from two of our top 10 travel destinations,” Morrison said in the statement. “This is the billion dollar boost that Australia’s tourism industry has been waiting for.” 

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. 

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.