COVID-19: Singapore relaxes restrictions from 22 February 2022

Daily testing has been scrapped, and you no longer have to PCR test and isolate when you arrive at Changi Airport.

Well, not if you come from Australia anyway, or if you come from any of the vaccinated travel lane scheme.

So, what do I still have to do

What you will have to do is head off to an official testing centre within 24 hours of your arrival, and take a supervised swab test, usually a Rapid Antigen Test costing SG$15, and not the SG125 for a PCR test. You also won’t need to have daily RAT tests for your first 7 days.

Good news for transit passengers also – no pre-departure testing is required. And in even better news, the quotas for vaccinated travel lanes are slowly being increased. Countries being added to the VTL list are: Hong Kong, Israel, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand (beyond Bangkok) and the United Arab Emirates. It’s good to see some other major transport hubs being added.

The requirement to have spent the last 14 days in a VTL country(s) before your arrival at Changi has been shortened to 7 days.

These changes will set Singapore on the path to resume its status as an important aviation hub from VTL countries including the USA, UK and EU countries

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Another sign of things getting back to normal. Singapore are highly vaccinated, and lets hope that most transit passengers will not be of the same belief as Novak Djokovic!