MBS p-QTC at Sands Expo and Convention Centre for VTL Travellers ART (Days 3 & 7)
As a condition for entry into Singapore under the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL), VTL travellers are required to undergo unsupervised self-administered COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Tests (ARTs) using self-procured ART kits on Days 2, 4, 5 and 6 of arrival in Singapore, and supervised self-administered COVID-19 ARTs on Days 3 and 7 of arrival in Singapore.
For the supervised self-administered COVID-19 ART, VTL travellers are required to make an appointment booking at a Quick Test Centre (QTC) / Combined Test Centre (CTC) at https://go.gov.sg/traveller-art-test.
The QTC and CTC slots for booking in neighbourhood areas were quite full, and most are closed during lunch time and after 4pm or 5pm. After scrolling through the long list on https://go.gov.sg/traveller-art-test, I found a slot at MBS p-QTC at Sands Expo and Convention Centre at 5.15pm, which I can get to after work.
You can only book an appointment for your second test (Day 7) after you have attended your first test (Day 3).
The test will be self-administered and supervised by an approved COVID-19 test provider. Each test will cost S$15 (inclusive of GST), with payment to be online at https://go.gov.sg/pay-art. The electronic receipt must be shown during registration as proof of payment. Cash will not be accepted.
Important Links for VTL Travellers COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) (Days 3 & 7)
Days 2, 4, 5 and 6 unsupervised self-administered COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) submission:
VTL-Air: https://go.gov.sg/vtl-air-art
VTL-Land: https://go.gov.sg/vtl-land-art
Days 3 and 7 supervised self-administered COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) booking:
https://go.gov.sg/traveller-art-test
Days 3 and 7 supervised self-administered COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) payment:
Combined Test Centres (CTCs) and Quick Test Centres (QTCs) Locations:
https://www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19/quick-test-centres-(qtcs)
Important Links for VTL Travellers COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) (Days 3 & 7)
Days 2, 4, 5 and 6 unsupervised self-administered COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) submission:
VTL-Air: https://go.gov.sg/vtl-air-art
VTL-Land: https://go.gov.sg/vtl-land-art
Days 3 and 7 supervised self-administered COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) booking:
https://go.gov.sg/traveller-art-test
Days 3 and 7 supervised self-administered COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) payment:
Combined Test Centres (CTCs) and Quick Test Centres (QTCs) Locations:
https://www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19/quick-test-centres-(qtcs)
Days 2, 4, 5 and 6 unsupervised self-administered COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART)
The Days 2, 4, 5 and 6 unsupervised self-administered COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) is straightforward. Purchase your own COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) kit in Singapore and submit the results for VTL-Air at https://go.gov.sg/vtl-air-art
VTL-Land: https://go.gov.sg/vtl-land-art or VTL-Land at https://go.gov.sg/vtl-land-art.
Note that if you are leaving your place of accommodation on Days 2, 4, 5 and 6, you are to self-administer the ART before leaving your place of accommodation.
Do not bring in a foreign COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) kit in to Singapore, even if it’s the same brand approved in Singapore. It may be confiscated by Singapore Customs and/or delay your arrival process.
COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) kits in Singapore are affordable at less than S$6 each.
Since the Days 2, 4, 5 and 6 unsupervised self-administered COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) requires 4 tests, simply pick up a pack of 4 Abbott Panbio™ COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test kits for S$19.20 which would fulfil the on-arrival VTL testing regime quota.
MBS p-QTC at Sands Expo and Convention Centre
The usual Government SMS reminders were sent. However, the exact location of the MBS p-QTC at Sands Expo and Convention Centre was not specified.
No specific address was stated on the SMS, so I asked the information counter on the location.
I was directed to Level 2 to one of the meeting rooms.
WRONG: Team Member RRT Centre
Arriving at the meeting room, I realised that I have been sent to the MBS Team Member Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) Centre, which I still thought it was the right place since it might be all Government-linked anyway.
However, after enquiring with the RRT Centre staff, I was sent back downstairs again, this time to the “taxi stand”.
I enquired on the whereabouts of the QTC near a taxi stand from a SafeEntry staff as the information counter was getting crowded, and I was directed to the Casino, but I mentioned that it was supposed to be at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre for a “swab test”.
DA @ MBS private Quick Test Centre (pQTC)
I was then directed to “outside”.
After almost bypassing this registration booth to go “outside”, I realised that the booth mentions in small text “PET (Pre-Event Test) Centre”. Note that this booth did not mention “Quick Test Centre” or “QTC” anywhere.
As a person who goes to conventions for work pre-COVID, this honestly looked like a registration booth for an event held inside the expo hall, which I honestly thought it was. I mean, the big sign literally says “REGISTRATION” like to collect lanyards or something.
This “REGISTRATION” booth is also located adjacent to the counter to pick up concession parking tickets for convention attendees, which only affirmed my initial thought.
Note that the PET (Pre-Event Test) Centre did not state its name as “DA AT MBS PQTC” as stated in the SMS. Nevertheless, I showed the SMS to a proactive staff at the booth, and he confirmed that I was at the right place.
Thank you.
That was a confusing hunt for the MBS p-QTC. First, literally no sign stating that it is, and I was being sent all around Sands Expo and Convention Centre for it.
After verifying my booking at the registration counter with my IC and showing the payment receipt on my phone, I was ushered in to the PET area.
To add to my confusion, there was a happy problem where I was directed to a station to be swabbed.
The VTL Days 3 and 7 COVID-19 ARTs are supposed to be supervised self-administered. However, a nurse directed me to have a seat to be swabbed. I was genuinely worried that I was in the wrong place and this centre was for PET and not a VTL ART QTC.
I confirmed with her that this was a QTC and that she was swabbing me, to which she confirmed it. Okay, I guess.
I also did not need to wait for my results after the test like a supervised self-administered COVID-19 ART, and was allowed to leave immediately. The nurse said to simply check for the SMS in about half an hour’s time.
And so I walked past the empty waiting area.
And my Day 3 VTL on-arrival ART was done.
And yes, I did receive my negative result SMS while on a bus out of MBS. This is the normal ART SMS that everyone gets regardless of ART location. I’m still not sure if the PET centre I went to was the actual MBS VTL ART QTC though.
Only 5 and a half hours later did I receive an additional email from the Health Promotion Board (HPB) saying that my VTL ART result is negative.
Conclusion
My first VTL ART at a QTC was pretty confusing with MBS staff not knowing where the QTC even is, thinking that I’m their colleague going for a RRT. There was also no sign at all pointing towards the QTC, and the QTC itself is not even labelled as such, but rather as a PET Centre.
Quite ironically, the “outside” direction was kind of true because the only sign with an arrow to the MBS VTL ART QTC says “Exit Only”.
The saving grace was the friendly staff at registration and the nurse performing the swab itself which made the process straightforward at the PET Centre.
Finding the QTC was the main issue I had here.
I simply suggest that MBS should put at least 1 sign pointing to the MBS VTL ART QTC that actually mentions its name as per the SMS, which is simply “MBS p-QTC”.
If a local Singaporean who has visited MBS multiple times can get confused, I dread to think about tourists travelling to Singapore on VTLs visiting this iconic attraction, and their key impression of a post-COVID Singapore holiday is getting lost, being sent around in varying directions, and faced with an imminent threat of “being prosecuted for an offence(s) under Singapore law, including the Infectious Diseases Act and/or the Infectious Diseases (COVID-19 – Stay Orders) Regulations 2020” which “shall be liable to a fine not exceeding S$10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both” as clearly advertised in the VTL arrival email from ICA.
[PSA] Do not use MOH COVID-19 Test Result Notice for Pre-Departure Test Certificate
Some users of the VTL-Land are claiming to be able to use the MOH COVID-19 Test Result Notice as a pre-departure test certificate.
A handwritten sign at the QTC clearly states that pre-departure tests should be done at clinics only.
To further prevent the MOH COVID-19 Test Result Notice being used as a pre-departure test certificate, there is also a new box in the notice clearly stating that the MOH COVID-19 Test Result Notice is not equivalent to a HealthCert for overseas travel.
tl;dr DO NOT use the MOH COVID-19 Test Result Notice as a a pre-departure test certificate. An extra S$30 spent for a clinic ART for another test is nothing as compared to the privilege of quarantine-free travel with ART during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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