Singapore has eased its air travel border restrictions. Singapore Airlines (SIA) announced that the country has eased its entry and testing requirements for Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) travelers and the flights will be operated from February 22.

Singapore has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, data compiled by Bloomberg show. About 90% of the total population is fully inoculated, and close to two-thirds have received booster shots. It recently started rolling out vaccines for those age 5-11 and over 70% of students in local primary schools will be fully vaccinated by the end of the month, the Education Ministry .

The high vaccination rate means that the vast majority of people who do get COVID are able to recover at home. Some 99.7% of cases are mild or asymptomatic, the Ministry of Health said.

The new testing requirements will lower overall travel expenses, with on-arrival PCR tests at S$125 ($93) comparing with “rapid” options that start at S$15. The reduction comes after Singapore’s central bank last month flagged the cost of testing for international travel as a recent inflation driver, along with fuel and food prices, when it surprised markets with an unexpected policy tightening.
However, for passengers departing from India and entering Singapore on VTL flights are still required to furnish a negative PCR or professionally administered ART test within two days of flight departure.
According to Singapore Airlines (SIA), fully vaccinated passengers travelling to Singapore from February 22 on VTL flights from Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai will have their travel history requirement reduced from 14 to 7 days.