Hong Kong-Singapore travel bubble delayed again amid virus cases
A Singapore Airlines passenger jet taxis along the tarmac as it arrives at Changi International Airport terminal in Singapore, June 8, 2020. (AFP file photo)
Hong Kong and Singapore further delayed the keenly-anticipated travel corridor between the Asian financial hubs, a setback for the region’s airlines and tourism businesses seeking to start a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
The travel bubble will be delayed beyond 2020, and the cities will review the arrangement for 2021 toward late December, according to a Hong Kong government statement Tuesday. The pact, which would allow passengers to travel between the cities without a quarantine, was already postponed by two weeks on Nov 21, a day before flights were due to start.
The cities’ virus outbreaks are far less intense than in places such as the US and Europe, but a recent uptick in cases in Hong Kong proved enough to halt the plan. The delay shows just how delicate the process of reopening borders is –even for places that have largely contained the coronavirus. The bubble was heralded as a pandemic world-first.
The two sides originally agreed that the bubble would be suspended if local infections exceeded five on a rolling seven-day average. That wasn’t even met in Hong Kong before the initial delay decision, and more recently the city has seen an alarming jump in infections.
