xerosum

In Singapore currently. UK national. Arrived recently but before the stay-at-home notices began to be issued. I notice SQ are already massively dropping capacity and presume BA will too.

The UK govt have advised against all travel overseas, but the foreign office minister said that if you’re already abroad you might be safer staying where you are. Looking at the numbers, that seems like good advice. I can afford to stay in Singapore (and pay for hospitalisation if it comes to it) and I do not have a home in the UK. I contacted the UK embassy here who were not very informative. Technically I could stay almost three months on my current stamp.

Anyone care to speculate (I realise speculation is about as much as I can hope for right now) if it’s likely that the Sg govt might start to kick tourists already here out, and what that would mean if there are no flights?

I suppose another question is whether there is anywhere else to go other than back to lockdown in the UK.

studioboss

I don't think the Singapore Government will kick people out. But better plan on getting an extension on your visa. Keep track https://www.ica.gov.sg/covid-19

Honestly, unless you can find a cheaper country to ride it out with a far worst health care, I would be looking at long term stay. This will not be over in 2 months.

xerosum

I quite agree regarding Singapore vs elsewhere.

I am not sure that I can extend, given that I was granted 90 days on arrival, which seems to be the maximum. Hopefully they won’t close hotels/short-stay accommodation (I suppose it’s unlikely given the need to house Malaysian workers).

fimo

If you are already here, no point going anywhere else. Given that the govt is closing the border to non-residents after today, they are pretty much assuming that foreigners will be coming in and staying on. There's no value to proactively kicking people out, considering that the cases reported have largely been from returning citizens and residents. I don't think you'll be the only one needing to extend your visa or status if the situation does persist longer than expected. In China and Japan during the height of the outbreak they announced auto-extensions for those on expiring residency visas. There will probably be something along those lines when time comes.

MSPeconomist

Note that Singapore has told its medical professionals to prioritize Singaporeans over visitors for health care. This was posted elsewhere on FT within the last few days.

fimo

The message we're getting in the news in SG is that the reason for the border shut down to foreign visitors is to prioritize the healthcare system for Singaporeans and residents. The govt had already announced early March that free treatment for COVID19 no longer applies to foreigners (it was even retrospectively applied to the date an indonesian case arrive in SG via private jet). Continuing to allow visitor arrivals even with a SHN would likely expose the system to a greater burden than necessary.

I don't believe that visitors are going to be denied care, but you will unlikely to be able to access public hospitals and have to seek treatment at private facilities. There's definitely capacity there as they rely a lot on regional business and there are no Indonesians coming in for medical services now.

xerosum

The way I read this was, health care for anything non-covid. Given that you’re as much a risk to at least 2.5 other people as you are to yourself if covid-positive, I don’t think another reading is possible. Even being driven to an airport and put on a plane is unthinkable.

xerosum

The Bangkok post even ran a piece about this, speculating it would cost up to $6k, although their numbers are based on public hospitals. https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/18...irus-treatment

Also, isn’t this a ‘quarantine immediately’ situation? How much mucking around would there be over where to go? A huge part of the concern is surely to prevent the infected person from transmitting further.

studioboss

Actually, from the Straits Time article, it is for people who are supposed to come in for treatment. Many people from around the region come to Singapore for medical treatment. (Including certain many heads of states) It reads like no new customers unless absolutely needed because they cannot be cared for in their home country as these places can.

fimo

Indeed. I don't have time to hunt down the article, but it was not to say someone who is in SG and needs health care will be denied simply because s/he is not local.

shuigao

I would say close to zero chance of you getting kicked out prematurely. Thus far all SG government actions have not been retrospective (e.g. if you enter SG on XX date you need to SHN for 14 days, but if you entered on XX-1 date you don't need to SHN 13 days).

I would also say that if you started developing covid symptoms, you would certainly be sent to / quarantined in NCID (or Mt E or whichever backup hospital(s) they're preparing to isolate the less serious cases) and not denied treatment. I mean, what can the hospitals do? Send you back to your hotel and let you roam free potentially infect other residents?

Payment would probably be at your own expense, though.

Scifience

You should stay. The restrictions are definitely in place in part to prevent COVID-19 medical tourism (there were a few cases of people who were infected coming here specifically to try to get treatment), but if you are already here, I don't see it being an issue beyond being expected to pay the costs of your treatment. Assuming you have the resources to do so, I'd hunker down and consider Singapore "home" for the time being.

I am quite certain that ICA will figure out how to accommodate people stuck here on short-term passes who cannot leave due to lack of flights/travel restrictions, especially those who have financial means and have not committed any violations. We've already come together to help stranded Malaysians in the past few days, and I can't imagine that visa extensions wouldn't get sorted out.

Dublin_rfk

For financial reasons I would suggest looking at Jahor or Batam. Both are easily accessible without flying.

HumbleBee

In the same boat in Singapore now. Afraid Sg will ask tourists to leave before shutting the airport, but I believe it is an extremely unlikely scenario. Hopefully the new cases in S'pore will taper off and government will ease off restrictions soon. We should all meet up.

xerosum

Both have severe travel restrictions/lockdown. As for Batam, I can’t imagine a worst country to be if I caught something.