Singapore, Hong Kong Postpones Journey Bubble Begin As Covid Instances Rise

By UMass Mag On May 17, 2021

Crew members and travelers of Singapore Airlines in the transit hall of Changi Airport in Singapore on January 14, 2021.

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SINGAPORE – Singapore and Hong Kong have again postponed the start date of a long-awaited deal on air bubbles, the two cities announced on Monday.

The travel bubble, which would have allowed travelers to skip the quarantine, was due to begin May 26. The program has had several rounds of delays since it was first launched in November 2020.

The Singapore Department of Transportation said in a statement that “with the recent increase in unlinked cases in the community, Singapore is unable to meet the criteria to launch the travel bubble”.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong government said in a statement that further updates will be made on or before June 13th.

Covid-19 cases in Singapore have risen in the past few days. In a preliminary update on Monday, the Singapore Ministry of Health said it had confirmed an additional 21 locally transmitted infections, 11 of which were not linked to previous cases.

The cumulative Covid cases in Singapore lead to more than 61,600 and 31 deaths, data from the Ministry of Health showed.

The surge in locally transmitted cases has led the Singapore government in recent weeks to step up measures to contain the spread of Covid.

Stricter measures, which went into effect over the weekend, include banning all food in food and drink establishments and restricting public social gatherings to two people. Most schools will close on Wednesday and go online.

Both Singapore and Hong Kong are major Asian business centers with no domestic air travel markets. Your tourism and aviation industries rely heavily on international travel and have been hard hit by the pandemic.

Hong Kong announced on Monday that it had discovered another imported Covid case, bringing the total number of confirmed and likely infections to 11,826, official data showed. The city has reported 210 deaths so far.