Singapore authorities on Monday announced it will revise its border restrictions, responding to a recent surge of cases in parts of Malaysia but also reducing the isolation time required of travellers from Hong Kong . Travellers entering the city state who have recently been to Malaysia’s Sabah state will have to serve a 14-day stay-home notice at designated facilities starting October 14, authorities said, citing a surge in coronavirus cases there. Those arriving from other parts of Malaysia will need to be isolated for seven days at their own residences but the Health Ministry added it was closely monitoring the situations in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya. Phuket’s bars and beaches deserted as coronavirus batters Thai tourism However, travellers from Hong Kong will need to serve only seven days of isolation at their own homes, reduced from two weeks at designated facilities. “The risk of importation from travellers varies across countries and regions,” the Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday evening. “Hence, the task force continues to calibrate our border measures based on the latest developments in countries and regions as well as our assessed risk of importation and onward transmission in the community.” Under the new rules, travellers from Indonesia and the Philippines will be required to present a negative Covid-19 test before being allowed to enter or transfer through the city state although this will not apply for Singaporeans and permanent residents. By contrast, Malaysia announced sweeping new curbs around the capital and Sabah state as it confronts a new coronavirus surge. New restrictions will come into force from Wednesday for at least two weeks in Kuala Lumpur, neighbouring Selangor state and the administrative capital Putrajaya, said Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. Schools and places of worship will be closed, people will only be allowed to leave home for essential tasks like shopping, and all sports and other recreational activities will be banned, he added. Most businesses will still be allowed to operate, as the government seeks to protect a fragile economy already struggling to recover from the earlier lockdown. Similar curbs will be extended across the whole of Sabah on Borneo island. Cases have surged since an election in the state last month, and some have blamed campaigning politicians for bringing the disease back to other parts of the country. Malaysia has so far recorded over 16,000 cases and more than 150 deaths from Covid-19. Elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, Australia will on Friday open its international borders for the first time since March, allowing visitors from New Zealand to travel to the country quarantine-free. New Zealanders will be able to travel to some parts of Australia starting on Friday without quarantining, including to New South Wales, Canberra and the Northern Territory. However, New Zealand visitors who return from Australia must quarantine for two weeks under government supervision at the cost of NZ$3100 (US$2,065) for the first person and more for additional family members. The Australian government is also looking to establish coronavirus travel bubbles with low-risk countries across the region, including Singapore, Japan and South Korea. “We have had good discussions with them, but I think that is a bit further off,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the Seven Network. “You only need to look at what’s happening in Europe at the moment where they’re going through a horrific further wave of Covid-19, and of course we’ve got to be extremely careful about that.” For Chinese voters in New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern runs second New Zealand on Monday said it would reopen its borders to some international students, with 250 postgraduate students permitted to resume their long-term studies. They will be subject to the same two-week quarantine requirements as returning New Zealanders and a select group of “critical workers”, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “The first students are likely to arrive November 2020, with the majority arriving in the new year,” he said. The government on Monday signed a deal on Monday to buy 1.5 million Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech, with delivery potentially as early as the first quarter of 2021. In Indonesia, authorities will in the capital will ease strict social distancing curbs starting on Monday, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said as the increase in coronavirus cases there had stabilised. Jakarta brought back stronger restrictions last month, as its health system was becoming overwhelmed. The city’s transitional phase-out of the curbs will run from October 12 to 25, according to a statement from the local government. People can return to offices and dine-in restaurants as long as the capacity is limited to 50 per cent, while gyms, cinemas and tourism sites will be allowed to operate at a maximum 25 per cent of capacity. Baswedan said the effective reproduction number of the virus in Jakarta – a measure of the spread among the population – has eased to 1.07 from 1.14 in early September, helping justify the loosened restrictions. South Korea on Monday relaxed some rules on social distancing, allowing nightspots to reopen and spectators to attend sports events, after new coronavirus cases edged lower in recent weeks. Daily infections have fallen largely into the double-digit range in the past two weeks, down from 440 during outbreaks at a church and a political rally in August that prompted clampdowns on gatherings and some businesses. “We will lower the level of social distancing nationwide but maintain controls on risk factors such as the door-to-door sales industry,” Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a meeting on Sunday. “Many citizens are feeling fatigue over prolonged distancing, and we also took its negative impact on the economy into consideration.” South Korean minister apologises as husband goes on yacht-buying trip to US The relaxation means places of entertainment, such as nightclubs, karaoke bars and buffets can reopen, and audiences of up to 30 per cent of stadium capacity will be allowed at sports matches such as the popular Korea Baseball Organisation League, as long as they comply with anti-coronavirus guidelines. But high-risk activities such as door-to-door sales businesses and small religious gatherings remain banned, with new limits on guests and spacing at nightspots and indoor sport venues in the heavily populated Seoul area, the government said. South Korea on Monday recorded 97 new cases, bringing the total coronavirus caseload to 24,703, with 433 deaths. Japan and Vietnam will allow short-term business travel with each other, the Yomiuri newspaper said on Saturday. The pact, which will take effect by the end of October at the earliest, follows similar steps to ease business travel restrictions to Singapore and South Korea, the paper added. Japan is also planning to remove a ban on overseas travel to China and 11 other countries and regions including Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia next month, the Yomuiri said, though it would still advise against non-essential travel. Asked about the report, immigration official Seiji Matano said that no decision had been made, but that the government would consider how to reopen traffic in a way that prevents infection. Many of the countries to which Japan will reportedly allow travel ban most non-citizens and non-residents from entering. Japan allows citizens, residents, and visa holders to re-enter the country after testing negative for Covid-19 at the airport, with a capacity of about 10,000 per day. Singapore Airlines’ pop-up restaurants booked out Singapore Airlines said all seats on its Airbus A380 pop-up restaurants were reserved within 30 minutes of bookings opening on Monday. With flights largely grounded by the coronavirus pandemic, Singapore Airlines is trying novel ways to raise money, including using two A380 superjumbos parked at Changi Airport as temporary restaurants on October 24 and 25. A meal in a suite costs S$642 (US$474), while seats in business class are going for S$321 and then dropping to S$96.30 for premium economy and S$53.50 for economy. Customers can also pay with frequent-flier miles. About half the seats in each aircraft will be available for dining, in line with restaurant guidelines on group limits and distancing, Singapore Airlines said in a statement. It plans to open a waiting list from 6pm local time Monday due to strong demand. In normal flying service, the carrier’s A380s can seat as many as 471 people, according to its website. The company will study the waiting list and see how it can “potentially accommodate some of those who are still interested in this unique dining experience”, vice-president of commercial operations Lee Lik Hsin said. Singapore Airlines, which suffered a record S$1.12 billion net loss in the quarter through June and is laying off about 20 per cent of its workforce, is also selling a range of first-class and business-class meals and offering a service whereby a private chef reheats, plates and serves customers in their homes. Reporting by Reuters, Bloomberg, AP, NZ Herald