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Coronavirus pandemic
Hong KongTransport

Hong Kong-Singapore travel bubble: early July review set for quarantine-free scheme amid coronavirus pandemic

  • Arrangement has already been postponed twice due to outbreaks on either side
  • Hong Kong government spokesman says both administrations are closely monitoring the situation

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Singapore is set to ease some social-distancing rules following success in lowering its Covid-19 caseload. Photo: Xinhua
Kanis LeungandKok Xinghui
Hong Kong and Singapore will review plans for a long-awaited travel bubble early next month, and despite the city state making progress in taming a resurgence of Covid-19 cases, both governments say they will proceed cautiously towards launching the quarantine-free scheme.
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Hong Kong commerce chief Edward Yau Tang-wah had been regularly in touch with his counterpart in the city state, a government spokesman said on Thursday, adding that both administrations were closely monitoring the Covid-19 situation.

“Both sides consider it to be prudent to keep the developments under review to ensure the epidemic situation is sufficiently stable before deciding in early July on the way forward for the air travel bubble,” the spokesman said.

In Hong Kong, 21.8 per cent of its 7.5 million residents had received at least one shot, while 15.3 per cent had taken both as of Thursday. Photo: Nora Tam
In Hong Kong, 21.8 per cent of its 7.5 million residents had received at least one shot, while 15.3 per cent had taken both as of Thursday. Photo: Nora Tam

Singaporean Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said that even if the two sides met the criteria for starting the bubble, Singapore was still taking a cautious approach.

“We probably don’t want to rush. It is important that in this state, embers [of infections] are still there, we want to be quite cautious,” he told an afternoon press conference.

The scheme was slated to launch last November but was postponed after a surge in cases in Hong Kong. It was pushed back to May 26 and derailed again when the number of cases began to rise in Singapore, prompting a raft of tightened measures that are due to ease on Monday as the daily caseload comes under control.

The Hong Kong government said last month an announcement on the future of the travel bubble was expected by this weekend at the latest.

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