SINGAPORE — The travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong has been delayed to next year, with the exact start date to be reviewed in late December, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said on Tuesday (Dec 1). 

It said that the decision to further postpone the start of the travel bubble, which allows all travellers to visit Singapore and Hong Kong without undergoing quarantine, was made after the authorities from both cities reviewed the Covid-19 situation in Hong Kong.

“Given that unlinked cases (in Hong Kong) are still high, both parties have decided to defer the commencement of the Singapore-Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble to beyond December 2020,” CAAS said.

The authorities in the two cities had agreed that the arrangement will be suspended if the seven-day moving average of cases with no known sources of infection exceeds five a day. 

Hong Kong announced 76 new cases on Monday, bringing the total number of the cases in the city to more than 6,300. 

The seven-day moving average of unlinked Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong rose to 16 on Monday. 

The air travel bubble arrangement, announced on Nov 11, was to allow all forms of travel from Nov 22 with designated flights each day and travellers having to take Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction tests in lieu of a quarantine or stay-home notice period. 

Flights to Hong Kong were originally scheduled to take off from Singapore under this travel arrangement on Nov 22. 

However, Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung announced the day before that the air travel bubble would be postponed for two weeks given the rising number of unlinked cases in Hong Kong.