Singapore-Malaysia land, air lanes open amid omicron COVID fears

Singapore and Malaysia opened land and air lanes for vaccinated travelers on Monday -- a landmark moment for citizens separated from loved ones but overshadowed by fears of a new coronavirus strain that emerged last week. To mark the occasion, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob made his first official visit to the city-state, with counterpart Lee Hsien Loong welcoming him. Footage on Lee's Facebook page shows the two masked leaders posing in front of a bus. But just as the scheme was getting off the ground, global concerns over the highly mutated but little understood omicron variant prompted officials to adjust. On Sunday, Singapore announced that all travelers would have to take antigen rapid tests on arrival at their own expense, and wait for the results. This appeared to be on top of showing a negative test result from the last 48 hours. The additional testing was ordered "in view of recent reports of a potentially more contagious variant of the COVID-19 virus," authorities said, saying it would allow expansion of the travel program "in a safe and calibrated manner." The "vaccinated travel lane" system includes flights between the city-state and Kuala Lumpur, allowing people with proof of full inoculation against COVID-19 to fly without quarantining. But the opening of the land border under the same initiative has been especially anticipated: Before the pandemic, thousands would make the trip every day across the bridge and causeway that connect the countries. "Malaysia is our closest neighbor and we have an important land link, which has really been, you know, pre-COVID, one of the busiest around the world," Singapore's Transport Minister S. Iswaran said on Friday, noting high "interest and desire" for crossings. Earlier, on Sunday, Singapore had also announced it was deferring plans to establish vaccinated travel lanes with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates due to the new strain. Lee had said his government was tracking omicron "very closely," and that it might force the city-state to "take a few steps back, before we can take more steps forward."<br/>