Australians could be flying to Asia and the South Pacific as early as August after a travel bubble with New Zealand was revealed this week.
Immigration and health authorities are looking to open up to Singapore within months, followed by other nations with low COVID-19 numbers. Countries may include Fiji, Vietnam and Thailand and possibly Japan and South Korea.
Singapore’s Minister for Transport, Ong Ye Kung, was asked on Monday about plans for travel bubbles. He mentioned Australia and New Zealand as leading candidates. “We are exploring with several countries and regions, including Australia, on the mutual recognition of vaccination certificates. The certificates can be physical or digital, and we will need them to be secure, tamper-proof and verifiable,” he said.
“However, vaccinations are only one aspect of pandemic control. Social-distancing, contact-tracing, quarantine and testing are also very important aspects which countries and regions have used to control the spread of COVID-19 virus even as vaccines become available.”
Explore more: safetravel.ica.gov.sg