Singapore tightens travel rules following Melbourne case surge

Singapore/Melbourne

SINGAPORE'S Ministry of Health will require travellers from the state of Victoria in Australia to serve a seven day stay-home notice (SHN).

This is part of tightened border control measures given the increase in Covid-19 cases in Victoria. The rules will take effect from 11.59 pm on Saturday.

Singapore citizens, Permanent Residents (PRs) and Long-Term Pass holders entering Singapore with a travel history in Victoria within the last 21 days before departing for Singapore will be subject to a Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on arrival.

They will also have to serve a seven-day stay-home notice at their place of residence, and take a PCR test before the end of the SHN period.

Short-term travellers holding an Air Travel Pass with travel history to Victoria within the last 21 days before departing for Singapore will not be allowed to enter the Republic.

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On Thursday, over five million people in Australia's second-biggest city of Melbourne were ordered into a snap week-long lockdown on Thursday, as officials blamed a sluggish vaccine rollout and hotel quarantine failures for another virus outbreak.

Stay-at-home orders will apply to Melbourne and surrounding Victoria state from midnight on Thursday for seven days, acting state Premier James Merlino told residents, as the cluster doubled to 26 cases.

"In the last day, we have seen more evidence we're dealing with a highly infectious strain of the virus, a variant of concern, which is running faster than we have ever recorded," he said.

The variant detected is known as B1617 - which has spread widely in India.

The "circuit-breaker" is designed to allow contact tracers to get on top of cases, with residents permitted to leave home only for essential reasons including getting vaccinated.

Mr Merlino said the conservative federal government's sluggish vaccine rollout was partly to blame for the latest lockdown, saying it was "not where it should be".

"If more people were vaccinated, we might be facing a very different set of circumstances than we are today. But sadly, we are not," he said.

It is the fourth time Australia's second-biggest city has been plunged into lockdown since the pandemic began, including nearly four months of harsh restrictions last year.

Thousands of people across Melbourne were already self-isolating after positive cases attended dozens of locations including two separate Aussie Rules football matches, a series of nightclubs and a medieval battle re-enactment.

In recent months, Australians had largely been enjoying few restrictions after the country successfully contained the spread of coronavirus, but critics say a glacial vaccine rollout has left the nation vulnerable to outbreaks from hotel quarantine facilities.

The virus has leaked out 17 times in six months, according to the federal opposition Labor party, which has slammed the conservative government for refusing to overhaul the system.

"If we had an alternative to hotel quarantine for this particular variant of concern, we would not be here today," Mr Merlino said.

Also under pressure over failing to meet initial vaccine delivery targets - with about 3.7 million vaccination doses administered so far in a population of 25 million - the government has pledged additional batches will be sent to Victoria in the coming weeks.

In Melbourne, tens of thousands joined lengthy queues to be tested for Covid-19, while others rushed to get jabbed as the state opened up mass vaccination centres to people aged 40-49 for the first time.

Australia has recorded about 30,000 cases and fewer than 1,000 deaths from Covid-19 - the vast majority in Victoria during last year's devastating second wave. THE STRAITS TIMES, AFP