Hey! I want to share some information about travelling during COVID-19. Before I start, I would like to point out that COVID-19 is still ravaging the world and to defer non-essential travel. As I found limited information online for my travel, I thought I will write this for those who have to travel to Singapore or are curious about the process. Please do check all official sites for the latest updates!
I travelled from the US to SG via Houston(United), San Francisco(ANA) and Narita(ANA). It was a long flight but thankfully due to the fewer travellers, I could travel on poor man business class (I have the whole row to myself).
There were crowds in US airports but nowhere near pre-COVID. You can also see more shops opened. Everyone puts on masks. Self-service payment kiosks are used instead of paying at the cashier.
In addition, instead of a mad rush to boarding or departing from the plane, the order is enforced through boarding and departing by rows. Once we boarded the plane, all of us started to sanitize our area.
I was asked to present the Singapore health declaration form and checked that I was allowed entry in Singapore before boarding the ANA flight from Narita, Japan to Singapore. The ground crew took my temperature to ensure that I was not running a fever before letting me board the plane.
Once the plane arrived in Singapore, all the travellers went through temperature scanners and were warmly greeted by the ground crew. All the automatic immigration gates were closed. All travellers had to go through the manual immigration counters. At the counter, I was asked about my health status (any symptoms), where I travelled from and advised of the end date of my quarantine. I was also given a sticker to identify the flight I arrived in. I heard from other travellers that if you declare or exhibit any symptoms, you will be required to take a COVID-19 swab at the airport.
In my case, I was allowed to pass through immigration to pick up my luggage. It was almost 1 am and everyone was quietly moving their tired bodies and waiting for the next instruction. At the carousel, there were ground crews lining up the passengers’ luggage. Passengers social distanced and went forward to pick up their luggage in an orderly fashion. After picking up my luggage, I quietly rolled my luggage over to the waiting area. When there were like 20–30 of us, we were moved to a bus to be sent to a dedicated facility (hotel) to serve our stay home notice. At this time, no one knew where they were going. Again, the ground crew helped us with our luggage so that passengers did not crowd together.
Finally, my bus arrived at Rasa Sentosa. I heard that the allocation is random. Thankfully I got a clean, comfortable room with a balcony and fresh air. I have heard horror stories!
This is when I found out that the 2-week stay would cost me $2000 nett (inclusive of meals and room). I had to self-pay for the COVID swab at $189. Laundry or other in-room dining is chargeable. Toiletries are complimentary.
If you are a Singaporean or PR who travelled before 27 Mar 2020 and returned before 31 Aug 2020, your stay will be paid for by the government. The COVID test done on the 11th day is chargeable. If you are on work pass/ work permit/ long term pass holder/ dependent’s pass/ short term visitor/ non-resident, you (or in some cases your employer) will have to pay for the expenses if you enter Singapore from countries that required Stay Home Notice to be served at a dedicated facility. You can check it at the MOH website.
Check-ins with ICA via the SMS link or ICA officers knocking at your hotel door or video calls happened daily. One time, I received a check-in video call while there was an officer at my door. The COVID-19 swab was taken on the 11th day of my stay. Even though my result is negative, I will still have to serve out the remaining days of the stay home notice.
The hotel instructed me to leave out the towels in the laundry bag outside our door to exchange for fresh towels every 3 days. The hotel would clear the trash bags that you leave at the door every day at 4.30 pm. I was fed at regular timings and when the food arrived, the hotel staff would ring your door. In addition, there was a daily temperature check by the hotel staff.
Here are some snapshots of the meals I had at Rasa Sentosa. It is a 7-day meal plan so I got to eat every dish twice. You can also deliver food via grab or your family/friends to your door.
The day my test result was out, ICA called to tell me the test result. If you are a Singaporean or PR, you can check it online on health hub website under test results. The hotel service centre called to check in on my test results and followed up with instructions on the check out process. Again, a letter with instructions and a sticker was delivered to my room.
I hope the above gives you an idea of what to expect should you require to be quarantined in a dedicated hotel facility. I have to say that Rasa Sentosa or the Shangri La group did a great job by scheduling activities for the “guests”. There were trivia nights and stay in chat nights with Hossan Leong that were definitely the highlight of our days!
