Singapore-African Union travel to resume from 23 May with mutual recognition of COVID-19 certificate

Fully-vaccinated travellers with digital vaccination certificates issued in the African Union can enter Singapore without quarantine and/or testing under the Vaccinated Travel Framework (VTF). Likewise, for fully-vaccinated travellers entering the African Union from Singapore.

Following the agreement on a "mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificates" framework by ASEAN member countries, Singapore's Ministry of Transport (MOT) has separately released a statement that Singapore has agreed to mutually recognise such certificates with the African Union, through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This will, the Ministry said, facilitate the resumption of travel between Singapore and countries in Africa.

With this framework firmly in place, from 23 May 2022 (Monday), fully-vaccinated travellers with digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates issued in the African Union, via the Africa CDC’s Trusted Travel (TT) and Trusted Vaccines (TV) platforms, can upload and validate their certificates through the Vaccination Check Portal (VCP) or the Singapore Arrival Card (SGAC) to verify their vaccination status. This will allow them to enter Singapore without quarantine and/or testing under the Vaccinated Travel Framework (VTF).

Likewise, fully-vaccinated travellers with digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates issued in Singapore (i.e. HealthCerts) can securely obtain Vaccination Passes on the AU TT and TV platforms. "Persons who are fully-vaccinated in Singapore can apply for a digital vaccination HealthCert, issued by the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH), via the Notαrise website. The vaccination HealthCerts will be sent by Notαrise to the individual’s email and/or via the Singpass app," explained in MOT's statement.

For deeper understanding:

The TT and TV platforms are based on the African Union standard for harmonising digital passes and health-related screening standards across Africa for seamless travel.

The TT ecosystem gives governments and eligible organisations access to a network of platforms for health credential issuance, border risk management, digital public health surveillance, and lab, clinical and vaccination registries.

The platforms have been operational since the last quarter of 2020 and have currently fully onboarded, or are finalising the onboarding of (either directly or through regional initiatives like WAHO’s BIOMARS and ECSA’s DELPHIX1), 21 major African destinations including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Namibia, Kenya and Rwanda, with plans to onboard all African countries in the next few months.

Through the new PolyGlot standards adapter, the TT and TV systems also facilitate the interoperability of African digital COVID-19 platforms and those of other continents.

 Most recent travel-related news:

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- A guide for Hong Kong’s inbound travellers: How to get a Provisional Vaccine Pass/recovery record QR code

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