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People walk along the transit hall at Changi Airport, Singapore on Jan 7, 2021. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)

Singapore will suspend reciprocal green lane (RGL) arrangements with Malaysia, Germany, South Korea for three months from Monday (Feb 1).

In a statement released on Saturday morning (Jan 30), Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said: "The Government of Singapore regularly reviews its border measures to manage the risk of importation and onward local transmission of COVID-19 from travellers.

"Given the resurgence of COVID-19 cases worldwide, the Government of Singapore will be suspending the Reciprocal Green Lane arrangements with Germany, Malaysia, and the Republic of Korea, for a period of three months beginning from Monday, 1 February 2021, 0001hrs. 

"The Government of Singapore will review the Reciprocal Green Lane arrangements at the end of the suspension period. Travellers who have already been approved to enter Singapore under these Reciprocal Green Lanes can continue to do so," the statement added.

MFA added that the Singapore Government will continue to monitor the global situation and adjust border measures to manage the risk of importation and transmission to the community. 

"Any changes to border measures will be updated on the safe travel website. Travellers are advised to visit the website to check for the most updated border measures," it said.

Singapore still has ongoing RGL schemes with Brunei and selected cities in mainland China -Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Tianjin and Zhejiang. 

Singapore earlier suspended RGL arrangements with Indonesia and Japan in December when the two countries announced temporary bans on the entry of foreign nationals (Indonesia) and non-resident foreign nationals (Japan). 

Given the reciprocal nature of the arrangement, travellers from Indonesia and Japan are also not allowed to apply for travel to Singapore under the RGL.

The RGL arrangement allow residents of countries in the scheme to conduct short-term travel for essential business and official purposes in Singapore for up to 14 days.

Travellers must test negative for COVID-19 before they travel and undergo another test on arrival. They must remain isolated until test results are released and are required to follow a controlled itinerary for the duration of their stay//CNA