Explainer | Why Singapore moved to 21-day hotel quarantine – and a look at the countries with the longest, shortest and ‘most relaxing’ self-isolation requirements

Singapore joined Hong Kong in having one of the world’s longest quarantine periods amid concerns about the incubation period of Covid-19 variants

Most countries stipulate two weeks, but some like Costa Rica don’t have quarantine, and others like the Maldives just require a negative test

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Travellers are seen at Singapore’s Changi Airport. The city state is restricting arrivals from India and has extended its mandatory two-week quarantine period by another week. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:00am, 6 May 2021Updated: 12:28pm, 6 May 2021

Singapore on Tuesday announced it would extend its quarantine period from 14 to 21 days for most inbound travellers – except those from seven jurisdictions including Hong Kong – as it battles a flare-up in Covid-19 infections linked to a large public hospital.

The city state now joins Hong Kong as having one of the world’s longest hotel quarantines.

Leong Hoe Nam, a Singapore-based infectious diseases expert, said the decision likely came after travellers who had tested negative for Covid-19 after 14 days eventually tested positive. This suggested that the virus incubation period has adapted to three weeks instead of two as was previously believed.

Teo Yik Ying, dean of the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, added that some of these cases were travellers who had arrived from areas that have “uncontrolled community infections”, dominated by virus variants including India’s B1617 “double-mutant” strain.

“These variants appear to be much more transmissible, where the standard public health measures may not provide adequate protection from being infected,” he said. “As such, Singapore increased the quarantine period to reduce the risk of further infection spillover to the community.”

Teo suggested that governments take a risk-based approach to determine the appropriate border control measures, adding that countries had different Covid-19 strategies. While some like Australia and New Zealand were working towards eliminating it, most of the other countries aimed to suppress the virus.

“With an elimination strategy, there is generally zero tolerance and very harsh border control measures are likely to be enacted, whereas a suppression strategy aims to minimise the impact of Covid-19 while allowing the majority of social and economic activities to continue,” he said.