BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – The government has announced a slew of new protocols for air travel, doing away with the Travel Green List and the need for quarantine upon arrival in Brunei.
In a press conference Friday, the Minister of Home Affairs YB Pehin Dato Hj Awg Abu Bakar Hj Apong said there will be no longer be different health protocols based on a traveler’s departure country, only vaccination status.
From May 6, the following new rules will come into effect:
• All vaccinated travelers will be allowed to enter/exit Brunei for non-essential travel. The Travel Green List will be withdrawn.
• All travelers entering/exiting Brunei must be boosted with a third vaccine dose or have taken a second dose within the past three months.
• Travelers entering Brunei no longer have to quarantine as long as they produce a negative ART result upon arrival. They will also be required to perform an ART on day 2 and 3. PCR tests are no longer required for vaccinated travelers.
• Unvaccinated travelers can only enter Brunei if they have proof of a medical exemption. They must take an ART on arrival and a PCR test on day 3. They must also isolate until they receive their PCR result.
• From May 15, adolescents who are citizens or residents of Brunei must be boosted if they wish to exit the country.
Previously, only travelers departing from 11 “green-listed” countries could enter Brunei for non-essential reasons.
Explaining the reason for scrapping the Travel Green List, the home affairs minister said travelers from countries outside the green list did not pose a higher risk to the local community.
“Taking into consideration the effectiveness of ART testing in detecting active infections… local statistics have shown that there is no difference in infection risk between those arriving from countries under the Travel Green List and those arriving from non-TGL countries,” he said.
However, the land and sea border remains closed to non-essential travel, with the governments of Brunei and Malaysia still in talks on the issue.