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Several Singaporean students studying in the UK were quick to change their flights there yesterday to ensure they wouldn’t have to spend time in quarantine upon arrival.
This was due to Thursday’s announcement that as of 4am this morning, those arriving in England and Scotland from Singapore will no longer need to self-isolate for 14 days after landing. The same applies to travelers entering Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Travelers from Singapore and Thailand have now been added to the UK travel broker list, meaning they don’t have to go into quarantine if they haven’t been to or transited other non-exempt countries in the 14 days prior to their arrival. arrival.
Ms. Yang Xin, 22, a third-year medical student at Oxford University, changed her Singapore Airlines flight to the UK from one scheduled to depart at 9 am yesterday to one on September 26, at hear the news.
Ms. Yang, who is due for an exam on October 2, said she was glad to learn that she would not have to be quarantined. “My university charges more than £ 24 (S $ 42) per day (for quarantined accommodation) and no food is provided so it would have been a huge headache trying to put food down for 14 days.”
London School of Economics student Cornelius Chong, 21, was scheduled to arrive in Britain at 6 a.m. today, narrowly bound to quarantine.
School for him will start on September 28, but he said he had arranged to arrive much earlier to complete the period of self-isolation.
Mr. Chong said yesterday, “This news of not having to deliver a stay-at-home notice is definitely a pleasant surprise. I will have more time to adjust to the new environment there.”
But he noted that this “definitely does not mean we should let our guard down when we go out.”
“Regular use of face masks, hand hygiene and not being in crowded places will definitely be even more important as regulations in the UK are unlikely to be as strict as those in Singapore, and we will have to make our own precautions or risk infecting ourselves, “he said. said.
Some students said that lifting the quarantine requirements would not have influenced the chosen date of return to the UK.
Clara Tan, 21, a third-year law student at Oxford University, will fly on Wednesday.
She said she is “fatigued” by the uncertainty surrounding Covid-19. She has already served three 14-day quarantine periods in Singapore and Hong Kong, but said she “handles them quite well.”
“The announcement was certainly unexpected, but that’s the way it is these days.
“I really didn’t feel like making another change in my plans due to a new change with the Covid-19 situation,” he said. His university also intended to provide free accommodation to students during the quarantine period.
Travelers who fail to isolate themselves as required can be fined £ 1,000 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and £ 480 in Scotland.
The Dynasty Travel agency said that, for now, only students will travel back to England before their semesters start later this month.
“Some leisure travelers are eager to travel, but still have reservations and (are) wary of potential risks,” said its director of public relations and communications, Alicia Seah.
He noted that there are mutual agreements and standard operating procedures to ensure the safety of travelers.
Additional reporting by Ng Keng Gene and Clara Chong
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