SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Denmark will impose self-isolation requirements on travellers from Singapore, its embassy in the city-state said on Thursday, following a surge in COVID-19 infections.
Singapore was removed this week from a European Union list of non-EU countries for which travel restrictions should be lifted.
“Singapore is now considered a high risk country for travel to Europe,” the embassy of Denmark in Singapore posted on Facebook.
The EU’s safe list of countries is reviewed every two weeks and is not legally binding on member nations. Last month, the United States advised citizens against travel to Singapore, raising the alert level to its highest.
Singapore detected 3,481 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.
But most of its recent new cases are asymptomatic or mild, with 85% of the 5.45 million population vaccinated. A Reuters tracker shows that its average daily infections are at 75% of the peak. Singapore had kept the infection numbers very low through most of last year and early this year.
With the exception of certain groups such as Danish citizens “who are fully vaccinated regardless of where”, all travellers from Singapore must be tested upon arrival and self-isolate for 10 days, the Danish embassy said.
The isolation will end on the fourth day if there is a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result.
The rules applied to all travellers regardless of vaccination status as Denmark does not recognise Singapore’s vaccination certificate, it said.
Last month, Singapore had included Denmark in a short list of countries for which quarantine-free travel would be allowed for fully vaccinated people.
(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
