SINGAPORE – Singapore has not given up on forming a bilateral “air travel bubble” with Hong Kong that would allow travelers to skip quarantine, Southeast Asian country’s transport minister Ong Ye Kung told CNBC.
The deal was supposed to have started last November, but was postponed after Hong Kong reported a resurgence of new Covid-19 cases. A new launch date has not been set, but Ong said officials on both sides had contacted.
“As you know, the agreement has been signed, concluded. We are making some adjustments, some proposals to restrict it,” the minister told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday.
“But I think the main consideration now is that this is shortly after the Chinese New Year and both sides are being cautious. We want to see if there is any impact due to the Chinese New Year in the broadcast from the community,” he added.
The Lunar New Year festivities took place last month. Celebrations often involve meetings and visits to the homes of family and friends – events that have been reduced in many countries this year due to the pandemic.
Ong said there appears to be no sign of an increase in Covid’s transmission after the festivities.
In Singapore, new daily cases remained low, with no infections in the community most days, he said. As of Wednesday, the country has reported more than 60,000 confirmed cases and 29 deaths since the outbreak began, data from the Ministry of Health showed.
In Hong Kong, the number of new daily cases has also declined from its recent peak in January. As of Wednesday, the city had reported more than 11,000 confirmed and probable cases of Covid and 203 deaths, official data showed.
Singapore and Hong Kong are the main Asian business centers that do not have domestic air travel markets. Its tourism and aviation sectors, heavily dependent on international travel, have been severely affected by the pandemic.
Pandemic control is still the key to reopening
In addition to Hong Kong, Singapore wants to establish “travel bubble” agreements with other places, said Ong, who forecasts “some recovery” in aviation this year.
“What is in our favor is vaccination. What is not in our favor are the mutations and variants that are more transmissible and may not respond to vaccination. keeps throwing curved balls at you, “said the minister.
“But despite that, I think vaccination is a big change and at some point this year we hope to see some recovery. And when we look at recovery, I think the air travel bubble is an important platform for us to work on,” he added.
As a place, as a territory or as a country, your infection control history remains the main result that we need to analyze. And if they are successful, we must continue to open up to them and form air travel bubbles with them.
Ong Ye Kung
Singapore Minister for Transport
Vaccination fees will not be the only consideration for Singapore in opening its borders, said Ong. He added that the history of countries and territories, when it comes to controlling the pandemic, is a more important factor.
The minister pointed out that even before vaccines started, Singapore managed to open itself up to some places considered “safe”.
Last year, Singapore allowed visitors from various places – including Australia, New Zealand, mainland China and Taiwan – to skip quarantine if they met certain requirements, such as a negative Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in arrival.
Ong said that about 1,000 of these travelers enter Singapore every day without having to be quarantined and have not led to the highest Covid transmission rates in the country so far.
“We still need to take a bilateral approach, country by country,” he said.
“As a place, as a territory or as a country, their infection control history remains the main result we need to look at. And if they are successful, we must continue to open up to them and form air travel bubbles with they. “