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Singapore studies Hong Kong bubble proposal

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HONG KONG, 1 April 2021: Hong Kong is moving closer to resuming its travel bubble with Singapore after an earlier attempt failed due to a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Earlier this week, Singapore’s Minister for Transport, Ong Ye Kung, confirmed he had received a proposal from Hong Kong to re-open borders safely.

“We are studying it and will be responding to Hong Kong shortly,” he said, adding, “we are very happy that Hong Kong has in recent weeks kept the pandemic under good control. This is a very positive development.”

Officials in Hong Kong said the fourth wave of Covid-19 was showing signs of abating while a vaccination drive was underway, prompting renewed interest in restoring a travel bubble with Singapore.

Hong Kong has contacted six other countries about resuming travel bubble talks. They are Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam.

If the travel bubble bilateral talks succeed, it will allow two-way travel between the countries doing away with the need for quarantine at both ends of the journey.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-Ngor said she had told her team to look into the arrangements needed for bilateral travel, according to the South China Morning Post.

Negotiations will focus on arriving travellers having valid vaccination certificates to gain entrance without undergoing quarantine. It also highly likely countries negotiating must also show that 70% of their own population has been vaccinated. Other requirements such as pre-flight PCR testing and the use of track and trace apps could be mandatory.

“Of course, vaccination will facilitate the resumption of travel to a certain extent, but I’m sure you realise that when we talk about travelling, it’s a bilateral thing,” she told SCMP, adding that it was also up to the other side to ease entry for Hong Kong residents.

Singapore and Hong Kong aborted a travel bubble mechanism in November 2021 after just one day due to a spike in infections in Hong Kong. Renewed talks about bringing back the bubble should be easier as the framework has already been negotiations vaccinations have since rolled out. 

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