India VTL: India lifts quarantine requirement for Singapore residents

India has scrapped the 7-day home quarantine for travellers from Singapore, restoring two-way quarantine-free travel once more.

It’s safe to say the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) arrangement between Singapore and India hasn’t been off to the best of starts. Barely a day after the VTL commenced on 29 November, India designated Singapore as an “at-risk” location, requiring travellers to do a seven-day home quarantine upon arrival. 

But now there’s some good news: India has announced that effective from 9 December 2021, Singapore has been removed from its list of “at-risk” countries. This paves the way for fully vaccinated travellers from Singapore to enter India without quarantine once more.

India removes quarantine requirement for travellers from Singapore

Quarantine-free travel to India is possible once more

From 9 December 2021, Singapore has been removed from India’s list of “at-risk” countries. This means that self-isolation is no longer required for those with a Singapore travel history. 

Instead, travellers from Singapore to India will need to:

India conducts PCR tests on a random sample of passengers, so be advised you may be selected for a further test on arrival (and have to pay for it out of your own pocket).

Travellers from Countries excluding those Countries at risk, will be allowed to leave the airport and shall self-monitor their health for 14 daysโ€™ post arrival. A sub-section (2% of the total flight passengers) shall undergo post-arrival testing at random at the airport on arrival.

  • The 2% of such travellers in each flight shall be identified by the concerned airlines (preferably from different countries).
  • Such travellers shall be escorted by the concerned airlines/MoCA to testing area on arrival.
  • The cost of testing of such travellers shall be borne by the travellers identified for random testing themselves.
  • Laboratories shall prioritize testing of samples from such travellers.
  • If such travellers are tested positive, they shall be managed as per laid down standard protocol and samples would further send for genomic testing.

-India Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Source)

Pre-departure PCR tests in Singapore start from S$107, with at-home swabs starting from S$138. For the full rundown of your options, refer to the article below.

Cheapest pre-departure COVID-19 ART/PCR tests in Singapore

VTL Flights to Singapore

Singapore Airlines has announced the following VTL flight schedule from India to Singapore, with service from Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.

Chennai โ€“ Singapore
29 November 2021 โ€“ 26 March 2022
SQ529 Daily 11:15pm โ€“ 5:55am (+1) Boeing 787-10
Delhi โ€“ Singapore
29 November 2021 โ€“ 26 March 2022
SQ403 Daily 9:50pm โ€“ 6:10am (+1) Boeing 787-10
Mumbai โ€“ Singapore
29 November 2021 โ€“ 26 March 2022
SQ423 Daily 11:35pm – 7:30am (+1) Airbus A350-900

Additional VTL flights are operated by Air India, Indigo and Vistara as follows:

  • Air India
    •  AI382 from Delhi to Singapore (daily)
    • AI342 from Mumbai to Singapore (Tue, Wed)
  • Indigo
    • 6E51 from Chennai to Singapore (daily)
  • Vistara
    • UK105 from Mumbai to Singapore (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun)

Additional VTL testing requirements

Supervised swabbing

 Singapore has tightened its testing regime for VTL arrivals from 7 December 2021 onwards. 

Travellers aged 2 and above now need to undergo daily testing for the first seven days upon arriving in Singapore, as illustrated below:

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Testing Regime for travel to Singapore
Day Test
Within 2 days before departure Professional ART/PCR 
Day 1 (arrival) Air VTL: PCR
Land VTL: ART
Day 2 Self-administered ART
Day 3 Supervised ART
Day 4 Self-administered ART
Day 5 Self-administered ART
Day 6 Self-administered ART
Day 7 Supervised ART
Professional ART= Someone swabs you
Self-administered ART= You swab yourself, unsupervised
Supervised ART= You swab yourself, supervised

ART swabs are all self-administered, with the Day 3 & 7 tests conducted under supervision at a Combined Test Centre (CTC) or Quick Test Centre (QTC) by 2130 hours on the relevant days.

QTC/CTC Locations
Book Appointment
Children aged 3 to 12 must be accompanied by a caregiver aged 21 years old and above for supervised ART swabbing. The caregiver may be required to help administer the test if the child is unable to do so.

On Days 2, 4, 5 and 6, tests will be unsupervised and done at home (these must be done before going out for activities on that day). Travellers must submit their results from Days 2, 4, 5 and 6 tests via the portal below.

Report ART result (Land)
Report ART result (Air)

This means that round-trip travellers from Singapore to India can expect to do a total of nine COVID-19 tests. 

โš•๏ธ VTL Testing Regime
Location Remarks Price
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Singapore 72h before departure (PCR) From S$107
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ India 2 days before departure (ART/PCR) Varies
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Singapore On arrival at Changi (PCR) S$125
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Singapore Day 2 (ART) ~S$5
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Singapore Day 3 (Supervised ART) S$15
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Singapore Day 4 (ART) ~S$5
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Singapore Day 5 (ART) ~S$5
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Singapore Day 6 (ART) ~S$5
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Singapore Day 7 (Supervised ART) S$15

Conclusion

India has lifted the quarantine requirement on travellers from Singapore, which allows for two-way quarantine-free travel between the two countries once more. 

This should be a boost for Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport, given the importance of India as an inbound, outbound and transit market. SIA was quick to resume 51 weekly flights to India once restrictions were lifted, and the removal of quarantine should boost load factors.

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

Similar Articles

Comments

3 COMMENTS

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

3 Comments
Oldest
Newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
kopi lim

Imagine being labelled at-risk by a country that sits number 2 on COVID cases ITD. What an insult.

Freddy

Well Singapore sits in the “Do Not Travel” category of the number 1 country. Hardly an insult.

Sean

Excellent news. Should mean Xmas at my condo is a lot quieter and I can actually enjoy the pool again.