Malaysia-Singapore VTL Temporarily Suspended From Thursday - Minister Khairy

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 (Bernama) -- The sale of bus and flight tickets under the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Malaysia and Singapore will be temporarily suspended from Thursday until Jan 20 2022 said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. The decision, he said took into consideration a report of the Singapore Health Ministry on Dec 20 after a local COVID-19 cluster involving three positive cases was detected. “Further test findings carried out found two of the cases showed the possibility of the Omicron variant while the result of other case is still pending. The three cases do not have any history of overseas travel,” he said in a statement here Wednesday. He said for travellers who have purchased VTL tickets via land and air as well as meeting the stipulated conditions can travel under the initiative. Commenting further, he said the VTL initiative would be reopened on Jan 21, 2022 after a risk assessment based on the current COVID-19 situation in both countries. "However, the ticket quota sold would be reduced from the existing quota,” he said while adding that further information on the temporarily travel suspension on bus and air tickets under the initiative can be referred to the Malaysian Transport Ministry for air VTL and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry for land VTL. In this regard, Khairy called on all travellers to be responsible and always comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) stipulated by taking the COVID-19 self-test randomly. On Nov 29, Malaysia and Singapore agreed to launch the VTL initiative by air and land between the two countries for travellers who have completed two doses of COVID-19 vaccination. Via the facility, travellers need not be under compulsory quarantine upon arrival at the destination, but they are required to undergo the need of carrying out COVID-19 detection test before departure and upon arrival. Earlier, in view of the increase in Omicron cases globally, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced that there will be no new land Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) bus tickets sold for travel into Singapore or Malaysia starting from Dec 23 till Jan 20, 2022. "All travellers who already hold a ticket on a VTL bus can continue to travel under land VTL," MTI said in a statement Wednesday. The ministry said those who were not Singapore Citizens nor Singapore Permanent Residents could also continue to apply for their Vaccinated Travel Pass if they have not done so via https://go.gov.sg/vtl-portal. "We will also temporarily reduce the capacity and ticket sales, for travel via land VTL from Jan 21, 2022, onwards by half or equivalent of 24 bus rides per day one way. "We will continue to monitor the situation closely and adjust the land VTL capacity, taking into account the public health situation in both countries and globally," said MTI. Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said it would take proactive and preemptive steps to manage the inflow of VTL travellers and mitigate the risk to the Singapore community, while observing the emerging situation. “Imposing the same timeline as land VTL, there will be no new ticket sales on designated VTL flights for entry into Singapore from all VTL countries,” it said. For entry into Singapore on designated VTL flights from Jan 21, 022, CAAS will cap the total ticket sales at 50 per cent of the allocated quota. Under the VTL, CAAS said fully vaccinated travellers from VTL countries, who travel on designated VTL flights may enter Singapore without quarantine and just need to undergo COVID-19 testing. Short-term visitors (STVs) and long-term pass holders (LTPHs) will also need to apply for a Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP) to enter Singapore, it said. -- BERNAMA