SINGAPORE: Singapore fully reopened its borders to all vaccinated visitors Friday after a two-year coronavirus closure, with arrivals saying it felt “wonderful” to travel again without onerous restrictions.
The aviation hub, a key gateway for people arriving in Asia, joins other countries in the region that have recently dropped travel curbs as they shift to living with COVID-19.
Previously, only travelers from a handful of places could enter Singapore without quarantining but from Friday all vaccinated arrivals just need a negative COVID-19 test.
The city-state’s Changi Airport buzzed with activity as passengers streamed out of the arrival area, while hundreds were lining up in the departure zone to make trips outside Singapore.
“It’s wonderful,” Aldo Pizzini, a 63-year-old Italian businessman who had flown in from Milan, said.
“I took the first opportunity to fly today, (now) that much of the restrictions are lifted ... We are coming back to normality.”
Diana Mathias, who is from French Guiana and lives in Abu Dhabi, was visiting Singapore for a holiday with her mother.
“I feel really happy because it’s a long time since I flew,” she said.
The 38-year-old said she was a “bit stressed” at the prospect of doing a lot of paperwork to travel again but in the end found the process “really easy.”
Borders also reopened fully in neighboring Malaysia on Friday, and thousands of cars and motorcycles flooded across a one-kilometer causeway that separates it from Singapore.
The causeway, one of the world’s busiest land borders, had already partially reopened last year although some curbs were still in place.
The main airport serving Kuala Lumpur was busy as foreign tourists arrived.
Previously tourists were barred from entering Malaysia, a popular destination due to its white-sand beaches and lush rainforests, but vaccinated travelers can now do so with only a negative COVID-19 test.
Bo Lingam — group CEO of leading regional carrier AirAsia, which is based in Malaysia — predicted a “surge” in people flying.
The reopening of borders is “a joy for me and our AirAsia staff who had to face a lot of hardship during the pandemic,” he said.
“From today, it is all about flying the blue skies and an end to our planes sitting on the tarmac.”
Singapore reopens borders after two-year COVID-19 closure
https://arab.news/5njmw
Singapore reopens borders after two-year COVID-19 closure
- Aviation hub joins other countries in the region that have recently dropped travel curbs as they shift to living with COVID-19
Australia police detain 7 men suspected to have ideological links to Bondi Beach gunmen
- Government to launch gun buyback scheme in bid to prevent further violence
- Prime minister announces ‘day of reflection’ one week after attack
SYDNEY: Australian police said that seven men detained in Sydney’s southwest on Thursday had ideological connections to the two gunmen who allegedly fired at hundreds celebrating Hanukkah in Bondi Beach, killing 15 people.
“We don’t have definitive links between the individuals who committed these atrocities on Sunday and this yesterday apart from potential commonality in some thinking, but no associations at this stage,” New South Wales state Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson told ABC Radio on Friday.
Investigations were at an initial stage, Hudson said, adding one of the locations the group was planning to visit was Bondi.
Amid an outcry over the latest gun violence, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that the government will launch a national gun buyback scheme to “purchase surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms.”
“We expect hundreds of thousands of firearms will be collected and destroyed through this scheme,” Albanese told a news conference.
Albanese also announced a nationwide gun buyback scheme to “purchase surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms.”
He said it would be the largest gun buyback effort since 1996, when Australia cracked down on firearms in the wake of a shooting that killed 35 people at Port Arthur.
“Australia’s gun laws were substantially reformed after the Port Arthur tragedy,” Albanese said.
“The terrible events at Bondi show we need to get more guns off our streets.”
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed are accused of killing 15 people in an antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach on Sunday evening, Australia’s deadliest mass shooting since Port Arthur.
Albanese also said Australia will hold a national “day of reflection” one week after the mass shooting.
“This day is about standing with the Jewish community, wrapping our arms around them, and all Australians sharing their grief,” Albanese said as he declared Australia would honor the attack’s 15 victims. He urged Australians to light candles at 6:47 p.m. on Sunday, December 21 — “exactly one week since the attack unfolded.”
It is a moment to pause, reflect, and affirm that hatred and violence will never define who we are as Australians.”
Australia was also planning a separate “national day of mourning” to be held at some point in the new year, Albanese said.
“This will allow families the time and space to lay their loved ones to rest and to support those still recovering.”
