England removes Singapore and Thailand from quarantine list

LONDON — Singapore and Thailand have been added to England's Travel Corridor list, meaning that travellers from these two countries would no longer have to enter quarantine on arrival, British transport minister Grant Shapps said on Thursday (Sept 17).

From Saturday 4am UK time (11am SGT), passengers arriving in England from the two countries will no longer need to self-isolate, as long as they have not been in or transited through any other non-exempt countries in the 14 days preceding their arrival.

This comes after Singapore and Thailand had been assessed by the UK's Joint Biosecurity Centre as posing a lower infection risk, said the UK's Department for Transport and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in a statement.

Singapore and Thailand are already exempt from the FCDO's global advisory against non-essential travel.

The UK government added that it will take "decisive action if necessary to contain the virus". This includes removing countries from its travel corridors list rapidly if the public health risk of people returning from a particular country without self-isolating becomes too high.

Singapore currently has special travel arrangements with Brunei, China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and South Korea to facilitate travel while safeguarding public health. 

Under Singapore's Ministry of Health's Sept 1 travel advisory, general travel to Brunei and New Zealand is allowed, as well as for students studying overseas where distance learning is not available.

"Singaporeans and residents of Singapore are advised to defer all other forms of travel overseas," MOH said, though essential travel for business, official and work purposes will continue to be permitted under Green or Fast Lane arrangements and the Periodic Commuting Arrangement. 

The UK also added Slovenia and Guadeloupe to the list of countries from which travellers must quarantine when entering England to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Anybody arriving in England from these two countries after 4am on Saturday will need to self-isolate for 14 days, Mr Shapps said on Twitter. AGENCIES