Starting May 29, Singapore (finally) opened its doors to China for travellers who are on essential and/or official business. Talks are also underway with South Korea and Australia to establish “green lanes” for travel during the Covid-19 environment, said Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing on Saturday (May 30).
The establishment of “green lanes” seeks to restore connectivity and essential travels between the two countries. Mr Chan said that there were several considerations that go into deciding which countries to enter into such agreements with. “Reciprocal green lane agreements means there must be mutual assurance of each other’s test protocol and standards”.
He explained that a situation where there is no such trust and “everybody does their own thing”, with each country insisting on testing travellers for the virus as well as giving them a 14 day quarantine, would be essentially unworkable. This is because aside from having to undergo two tests, travellers would have to be quarantined for almost an entire month in order to travel from one place to another.
According to officials, Singapore is currently in discussion with countries like Australia, South Korea, New Zealand and Malaysia for the “green lanes” to be formed. This discussion is on a bilateral level and that means, it is still to be seen whether a travel bubble between these countries will form.