SINGAPORE - All travellers arriving in Singapore - including Singapore citizens, permanent residents and long-term pass holders - must submit an online health declaration before proceeding with immigration clearance, from Friday 9am (March 27).

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said on Monday that all travellers will have to do so via the SG Arrival Card electronic service.

ICA explained that this new entry requirement is an additional precautionary measure to mitigate the risk of importing Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, into Singapore. It will be subject to further review according to the global Covid-19 situation.

The data from the declarations will be used by the Ministry of Health (MOH) for contact tracing purposes if any traveller becomes a suspected or confirmed coronavirus case. The data will also become part of the traveller's medical history for reference at local healthcare institutions where these travellers will be treated.

Long-term pass holders refer to those with a student's pass, dependant's pass, work pass or long-term visit pass.

ICA's announcement comes after MOH said on Sunday that all short-term visitors from anywhere in the world will not be allowed to enter or transit through Singapore from Monday, 11.59pm.

The Ministry of Manpower will only allow the entry or return of work-pass holders, including their dependants, who provide essential services, such as in healthcare and transport.

ICA said on Monday that those who do not submit their electronic health declarations before arriving here must fill in and submit their forms electronically before they can proceed with immigration clearance. This will unnecessarily delay their immigration clearance, the authority added.

Travellers who provide false declarations can be prosecuted under the Infectious Diseases Act.

The new health declaration function on the SG Arrival Card e-service was developed by ICA in consultation with MOH, and is fully integrated with ICA's immigration system.

The e-service was rolled out for testing from August last year to allow short-term visitors to submit information about their visit to Singapore digitally before they arrived here.

This was to replace the need to fill up paper-based disembarkation/embarkation cards. ICA said that as of last month, it had cleared more than 560,000 electronic SG Arrival Card records that short-term visitors had submitted.

Singapore residents and long-term pass holders submitting their health declaration will need to select "Residents" on the e-service. They will then be directed to provide their health and recent travel information, as well as personal and contact details.

The health declaration will be made available before Friday as part of the SG Arrival Card e-Service, so that travellers who are due to arrive in Singapore after Friday 9am can complete it before their arrival.

Travellers can submit their health declarations up to three days before arriving here. They must re-submit their health declaration if there are changes to their health conditions or travel histories before arriving in Singapore.

The SG Arrival Card e-service is available at ICA's website and the service's free mobile application can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play store.

ICA added that from Friday 9am, it will end the paper-based disembarkation/embarkation card.

This means that when entry into Singapore for short-term visitors resumes in the future, these travellers must provide their arrival and departure information through the SG Arrival Card e-service instead.