SINGAPORE — Given the spike in Covid-19 cases here, Singapore will “very likely” fall short of the criteria for the take-off of the travel bubble with Hong Kong on May 26.
 
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung told reporters on Friday (May 14), at a press conference by the Government’s Covid-19 task force, that the authorities would closely monitor the numbers in the next few days and “critically review” the start of the bubble.

A decision and an announcement will be made early next week.

Mr Ong said that he spoke to Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and economic development Edward Yau on Friday morning, and both sides remain “strongly committed” to the air travel bubble.

Even so, the two government leaders also agreed that they must start the travel bubble safely and “respect the resumption mechanism that both sides have agreed”.

“The issue now is the situation in Singapore, where cases are going up,” said Mr Ong, who noted that Hong Kong’s coronavirus situation is under control.

Singapore and Hong Kong announced late last month that they would start their travel bubble “cautiously” on May 26, allowing one flight a day in each direction.

Each flight may carry up to 200 passengers in the first two weeks and the caps will be reviewed thereafter.

The air travel bubble, announced in November last year but later postponed owing to a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong, will allow all forms of travel without quarantine.

The authorities said previously that the bubble would be suspended for at least 14 days if the seven-day moving average of community cases with no known origins in Singapore or Hong Kong surpasses five. This number excludes cases from dormitories housing migrant workers.

In Singapore, the number of cases in the community with unknown origins has risen to 15 this past week, from seven cases in the week before.