Pre-departure tests for Singapore citizens returning home: Possibly constitutionally tricky in theory, but not in practice

• Main Author: ONG, Benjamin Joshua
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: COVID-19; pre-departure testing; Singapore; freedom of movement; Asian Studies; Constitutional Law; Public Health
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3734
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Can a state require that its own citizens may only enter upon production of a test result showing that they are not infected with COVID-19? Albania, Greece, Australia, Samoa, India, the Netherlands, and Cyprus have taken such measures at one time or another. On 26 May 2021, Singapore’s Ministry of Health announced a similar measure: “… All travellers entering or transiting through Singapore (including SCs [Singapore citizens] and PRs [Singapore permanent residents]), except for those who have stayed in lower-risk countries/regions throughout the last 21 days before departure for Singapore, will need to present a valid negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours before departure for Singapore. Only then will they be allowed to board their flight or ferry to Singapore.” There is an exception: “Singaporeans who test positive for COVID-19 while overseas and require urgent medical care in Singapore can still return to Singapore via a medevac flight or other equivalent forms of conveyance.” The pre-departure test requirement raises several previously unexplored issues stemming from Article 13(1) of Singapore’s Constitution, which provides: “No citizen of Singapore shall be banished or excluded from Singapore.”