China marks another step in virus rebound with Singapore opening Nov 6

Women wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk along a moving bus on a street in Beijing (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Singapore will lift border restrictions on visitors from mainland China from Nov. 6, a further reminder that the nation where the coronavirus outbreak first began is firmly on the road to recovery as the pandemic rages elsewhere.

Visitors will have to undergo a coronavirus polymerase chain reaction test upon arrival at Singapore’s Changi Airport, the city-state’s civil aviation authority said in a statement today (Thursday). If the result is negative, they will be allowed to enter Singapore without having to serve a stay-home notice.

As the outbreak’s original epicenter, China was the first to be subject to travel curbs on its residents as countries from the U.S. to Australia barred them from entering. Since bringing the outbreak in Wuhan and beyond under control in March, barring a few minor flareups, China has pursued a strategy of eliminating the virus. Frontline workers are tested regularly and when cases – many of them asymptomatic – are found, mass testing is immediately rolled out.

Singapore and China agreed in May to create a fast lane for essential business and official travel, which initially applied to six Chinese provinces and municipalities. Earlier this month, Singapore and Hong Kong said they planned to allow people to travel between the two financial hubs without the need for quarantine, which would be replaced by coronavirus testing. No final date has been set for that yet.

Xinjiang outbreak contained

Officials in Xinjiang say they believe they have contained the country’s latest coronavirus outbreak.

Xinjiang reported 23 new confirmed cases Thursday, all involving people who had initially tested positive but displayed no symptoms. It was the second consecutive day in which newly confirmed cases emerged entirely among such people.

Officials say that development appears to show new infections have been curbed in Kashgar prefecture, where the outbreak appeared Saturday. They say all the cases seem to be linked to a garment factory that employs 252 people and has since being sealed off.

More than 4.7 million people in Kashgar have been tested for the virus.

New cases in China have remained below 100 a day since mid-August, with travelers into the country subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Masks and temperature checks are generally still required in public places.

MDT/Agencies