Vaccinated Travel Lanes with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE deferred until further notice

On Nov 28, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be deferred until further notice.

This is to reduce the transmission of COVID-19’s Omicron strain as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the potentially more contagious new variant a concern.

Trips to affected countries like Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are already restricted. 

Travellers with recent travel history to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe (Category IV countries) will have to serve a 10-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) at dedicated facilities. 

Meanwhile, those from South Africa (Category II country) will serve a seven-day SHN at their declared place of accommodation. 

In their press release, MOH said: “We are reviewing our border measures, and will announce more details soon. 

“As the global situation evolves, we will continue to adjust our border measures in tandem with our roadmap to becoming a COVID resilient nature.”

MOH also advises travellers to visit the Safe Travel website should there be any more changes.