SINGAPORE - All airmail services - including Speedpost priority service - to the United Kingdom and destinations that transit via the UK have been suspended until further notice, due to the suspension of flights going there from Singapore, said SingPost in an announcement last Wednesday (Dec 30).

Speedpost Express and Speedpost Economy are still available, as is surface mail service.

Delivery of airmail takes about three to 12 business days while surface mail takes about three to 17 weeks.

British postal service Royal Mail Group has also made changes to its delivery process since March last year, such as requiring an electronic acknowledgement of items in difficult circumstances, as opposed to signature on delivery.

According to a service status update on the Singpost website, the Royal Mail Group said it can "no longer guarantee service delivery standards, in view of the UK Government introducing a series of measures, including self-isolation, social distancing, advising people to work from home and restricting travel with a view to minimizing the spread of Covid-19".

Speedpost is SingPost's express delivery service, offering delivery of documents, parcels, and freight within Singapore as well as internationally.

Deliveries by Speedpost Express take about one to three working days, while Speedpost Priority takes about two to 14 working days for worldwide delivery.

Speedpost Economy deliveries are shipped and take three to 15 working weeks.

The worsening coronavirus situation in the UK has sparked off bans and restrictions on travel from the country.

Long-term pass holders and short-term visitors with recent travel history to the UK have been barred from entering Singapore since 11.59pm on Dec 23, following the discovery of a new highly infectious coronavirus strain in the UK.