MOH Declares 9 More Countries Low-Risk, Arriving Travellers Can Serve SHN At Home

Travellers From 9 More Countries Can Serve SHN At Home From 4 Nov

Although the Covid-19 pandemic rages on in many countries, some have largely managed to “flatten the curve” and keep cases at a minimum.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Tuesday (27 Oct) that they’ll whitelist more countries where arriving travellers need not serve a 14-day Stay-Home Notice at a dedicated facility.

Travellers from these countries will be allowed to stay at a “suitable place of residence”, be it their home, or another accommodation of their choice.

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These travellers will have an electric monitoring device, and must not leave their place of residence at all times.

Travellers from 9 more countries need not serve SHN in facilities

MOH said that travellers from the following countries will now get to serve their SHN at a place of their choice:

• Estonia
• Fiji
• Finland
• Japan
• Norway
• Republic of Korea
• Sri Lanka
• Thailand
• Turkey

But they may only do so if they’ve not travelled to countries outside of the list in the past consecutive 14 days.

They must also be living alone, or are serving their SHN with household members who entered Singapore at the same time as they did.

Travellers must make own SHN transport arrangement home

While these travellers won’t need to serve SHN at dedicated facilities, they’ll still need to pay for their own transport arrangements to their place of residence.

The transport must be specifically for the purpose of transporting people who are going to serve their SHN.

Travellers must also remain indoors at all times, and as we’ve seen before, those who breach SHN will be duly punished.

Travellers must pay SHN costs from 1 Jan 2021

From 1 Jan 2021, all travellers who arrive in Singapore, including Singapore citizens and PRs, must foot their own SHN bills.

Currently, those who left Singapore before 27 Mar this year and return can have their bill footed by the Government.

At the same time, they’ll have to foot their own medical bills if they develop symptoms within 14 days of arrival in Singapore.

This is understandable, since self-isolation is now the norm when traveling to most countries.

Encouraging more air travel

Singapore is ready to welcome travellers from low-risk countries by letting them stay at a place of their choice. This’ll reduce the cost burden they’ll have to shoulder by coming here, and it might be an incentive.

However, they’ll still be closely monitored as a degree of risk still exists. We shall see if this approach pays off for our aviation industry.

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Featured image adapted from Changi Airport.