SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Transport said on Thursday (April 22) that no date had been fixed for the resumption of the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble. The ministry was responding to news reports that an announcement had been called off by Singapore at the last minute.

In response to TODAY’s queries, a ministry spokesperson said: “We have not fixed a date to announce the resumption of the bubble, but will do so once we are ready, hopefully very soon.”

Singapore has been “in close consultation” with Hong Kong on the travel bubble, the spokesperson said.

Quoting anonymous sources, reports by wire agency Bloomberg and Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP) said that the announcement had been planned for Thursday but had been called off and postponed to a future date.

The travel bubble had been put on hiatus since last November, when it was first set to begin until a spike of Covid-19 cases hit Hong Kong then.

However, there had been talk this month that the travel bubble could start after Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam said she hoped that an early agreement could be made between the two cities.

Hong Kong has said that its residents who take part in travel bubble arrangements will need to be fully vaccinated before they can fly to Singapore. The original arrangement in November did not have such a requirement, as travellers needed only to be tested negative for Covid-19.

Hong Kong had also requested that migrant workers who are on work permit or S passes be ineligible for the travel bubble, SCMP reported.

This time, however, it was Singapore that initiated the postponement, both news outlets reported, quoting unidentified sources.

The news comes as 11 new cases of Covid-19 were detected in the Westlite Woodlands workers’ dormitory on Wednesday, prompting more than 1,000 residents to be moved into government quarantine facilities.