The Big Story: Reopening with safeguards as new Covid-19 variant raises concerns in S'pore

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Catch the latest news video reports on The Big Story, The Straits Times' weekday online news programme.

Singapore will be expanding the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme to six more countries, namely Thailand, Cambodia, Fiji, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Turkey. With this extension, Singapore now has 27 air VTLs.

Travellers from these countries will be able to enter Singapore from mid-December.

However, as Singapore eases border restrictions for some countries, it is also tightening measures for travellers from seven African nations, amid a concerning new Covid-19 variant. The Ministry of Health has put in place new restrictions for travellers with recent travel history to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

First discovered in South Africa, the variant has also surfaced in Botswana and Hong Kong.

Journalist Kok Yufeng discusses the variant's potential threat and its implications on Singapore's VTL plans.

In other headlines - all eyes are on Singapore shuttler Loh Kean Yew, who's playing in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open . This comes after his dazzling win over badminton's world No. 1 Kento Momota on Thursday (Nov 25).

Will he continue his smashing performance on the international stage? Sports correspondent David Lee shares more about the rising star.

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