Travellers entering Singapore through vaccinated travel lanes no longer need to perform antigen rapid tests (ARTs) every day for seven days, and instead just need to swab themselves on the days that they want to go out and don't need to submit their test results (VTL travellers to take ART only if they leave home, no need to report results, Jan 21).

I find this arrangement peculiar and unenforceable.

I understand that as the number of community Omicron cases outstrips imported ones, more testing resources need to and should be used on the community to prepare for an expected spike in the case numbers.

If travellers do not need to submit their ART results, there is no reason to assume that they will voluntarily swab before going out.

A civic-conscious person will try his best to ensure his and others' safety by taking the ART. But why are we so confident in assuming that all travellers will do their part?

There have been hundreds of imported Omicron cases in Singapore in the past week. I do want to presume that the majority of travellers entering Singapore are responsible adults. But if just 10 per cent of the imported cases simply forget or plainly disregard taking the ART before going out, would there be a risk of mass community infection? That would do great damage to the healthcare system.

Singaporeans are doing their very best to cooperate with the authorities to ensure that the health services are not overwhelmed. I believe that we would like all inbound travellers to do the bare minimum to ensure everyone's safety and well-being.

I don't think that this is too much to ask for.

Foo Sing Kheng

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/forum/forum-vtl-rule-change-assumes-that-all-travellers-are-civic-conscious