A travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore set to open on May 26 has a “high chance” of being postponed.
Despite the pandemic, neighbouring countries around the globe are taking certain initiatives to revive tourism. On Friday, Hong Kong official said that a travel bubble with Singapore will be opened on May 26. That would be the second time the plan to allow visits between the two of Asia’s main financial hubs has been called off.
In fact, the bubble between neighbours had been slated to begin in November but was suspended after a spike in cases in Hong Kong. This time it is Singapore that is seeing an increase in cases, The Metro reported.
“The Singapore minister told me that there may be a high chance that the bubble arrangement may not be able to resume under the agreed mechanism,” Hong Kong Commerce Secretary Edward Yau said.
Travel bubble as the first attempt for the revival of tourism
The arrangement would allow passengers to travel between Hong Kong and Singapore without having to spend time in quarantine, provided they test negative for the virus before departure and upon arrival.
The officials believe that the bubble would be suspended if the seven-day moving average of the daily number of corona cases in the community is more than five for either Singapore or Hong Kong.
Singapore’s health ministry on Thursday reported 24 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases with 17 of them linked to a cluster at its Changi Airport. As of today, Hong Kong top health official Sophia Chan said people arriving in the city from Taiwan would be required to quarantine at a designated hotel for two weeks upon arrival after a rise in domestic cases there.
