Expanding VTLs: reconnecting Singapore with the rest of the world

SINGAPORE'S ongoing efforts to expand its network of Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) have been seen, by some detractors, as inviting in potential vectors of disease for little obvious gain.

Yet such a view is both contradicted by the evidence - given the strict safeguards in place and a low incidence rate of about 1 imported case per 1,000 VTL travellers - and woefully blinkered.

The establishment of a VTL is not simply the opening of a door to visitors - though it does remain important to signal that the republic is "open for business". Each link also represents a willingness to reach outward and restore ties with the rest of the world.