Japan, Singapore Agree To Ease COVID-Related Travel Restrictions From September - Reports

TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2020) Japan and Singapore agreed to ease travel restrictions introduced as part of measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic starting September, media reported on Thursday.

According to Japan's Kyodo news agency, the decision was made during a meeting between Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his Singaporean counterpart, Vivian Balakrishnan, earlier in the day.

"We will just need to confirm small details before the resumption of reciprocal visits," Motegi told reporters following the meeting, as quoted by the news agency.

Kyodo also reported that the agreement reached by Japan and Singapore would concern short-term business travelers, as well as expatriates and other long-term residents. In particular, the eligible business travelers will not be subject to a 14-day quarantine upon their arrival in Japan or Singapore if they complied with several conditions, including submitting an itinerary of their stay, limiting their travel to between where they are staying and the workplace, among others.

Meanwhile, expatriates and other long-term residents will have to stay at home or a designated location for 14 days upon their arrival in the countries, the news agency added.

The travelers in question will also have to report their health condition to authorities via the Line messaging app for 14 days after arriving in the countries, install a special COVID-19 contact tracing app, as well as agree to retain GPS data for two weeks.

As of now, Japan has banned the entry of all foreign nationals from 146 countries and regions with an unfavorable epidemiological situation. In July, the authorities decided to discuss with 12 of them, including Singapore, the possibility of relaxing travel restrictions. Japan has already discussed the issue with Vietnam, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.