For those unaware, a travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore was supposed to take off on 22 November 2020. Complications on Hong Kong’s end, however, effectively nullified that agreement, much to the chagrin of residents and more particularly, those who have already purchased air tickets.
Since then, we’ve been afloat with no real news as we endeavoured towards vaccination and the eventual blockage against the much-dreaded COVID-19 pandemic. Though after months of grinding and hustling, things are finally looking up for us.
Which would beget the question. What, then, would happen to the promised air travel bubble that never came to be?
Well, it seems that five months down the road, we may have a re-evaluated answer.
And it may well be one that we actually want.
Much-Delayed Travel Bubble Between Hong Kong & S’pore Is Being Finalised
According to The New Paper, Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung has issued an update on the Singapore-HongKong situation.
Apparently, the two cities have been in renewed talks over a revised agreement… and things may just reach a positive point soon.
“We are finalising the details of our revised agreement and hope to announce our plans soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam had earlier disclosed on Tuesday (13 April 2021) that she expects “an early indication of agreement between the two sides”.
However, she concedes that Hong Kong residents will have to be vaccinated in order to qualify for the travel bubble.
They will have to finish both doses of vaccines, and undergo a 14-day wait after the second jab.
It is a requirement that Singapore has not imposed.
“The basis for discussion with Singapore is that people leaving Hong Kong and entering Singapore need to be vaccinated,” said Mrs Lam.
According to her, it’s an incentivised method to increase vaccination rates.
“We want to provide incentives to encourage Hong Kong citizens to get vaccinated.”
Circumstances
Such an agreement would have been unthought of just a few months ago, after a drastic spike in cases on Hong Kong waters.
Hong Kong authorities previously warned of a “worrying” trend of purportedly unlinked COVID-19 cases, as the nation struggled with more than 170 instances of respiratory illnesses.
School had to be suspended for certain demographics.
On 20 Nov, it was reported that Singapore was in contact with Hong Kong to discuss whether the air travel bubble would continue as planned.
Previously, CAAS had announced that if the 7-day moving average for unlinked COVID-19 cases was more than 5 in Singapore or Hong Kong, the travel bubble might end up getting suspended.
As we now know, it did get suspended.
But things are looking up now.
Over the past week, Hong Kong has a record of two or three local infections on a daily basis.
As for Singapore, they continue to have a stellar record, with just two new community cases per week in the past two weeks.
Maybe, just maybe, Hong Kong dim sum would not be that far-fetched an idea after all.
But we’re not jumping the gun just yet.
Featured Image: Ronnie Chua / Shutterstock.com
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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