According to Singapore relaxes COVID-19 travel curbs, mask rules further | Inquirer News, the government's virus taskforce announced on Thursday that Singapore will remove the requirement for passengers who are not fully immunized to show COVID test results or buy coronavirus travel insurance as of February 13.
As the disease outbreak response level was changed from "yellow" to "green," meaning COVID-19 is not a threat, the health ministry announced in a statement that masks will also no longer mandatory to be worn on public transportation. Masks, however, will still be required in healthcare facilities where there is patient contact as well as in indoor when being with patients.
According to Lawrence Wong, the deputy prime minister and co-chair of the virus taskforce, the pandemic situation in Singapore has remained stable in last months, despite increased travel during the year-end vacations and China's transition from zero COVID.
Data from the health ministry showed that almost 80% of the 5.6 million people living in the city-state had received at least some COVID-19 immunization protection, and about half have received all of their subsequent booster injections.
According to health minister Ong Ye Kung, the public can also uninstall COVID-19 contact-tracing apps, and the government has destroyed personally identifiable information from its servers and database.
Since numerous international events started to return to the city-state in April 2022, Singapore has mostly relaxed its COVID-19 restrictions, luring travelers and companies.
By 2024, the Asian financial center anticipates that the tourism industry will have recovered to its pre-pandemic levels.
