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A travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore is launching within two weeks. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Hong Kong, Singapore travel bubble to launch on November 22, with passenger quota initially set at 200 per day in each direction

  • Daily travel quota set at 200 people on a single designated flight per day in each direction
  • The arrangement involves passengers shelling out around HK$1,890 for up to three tests at different points in the journey

The long-awaited travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore will launch on November 22, with the number of people allowed to move quarantine-free in each direction initially limited to 200 per day.

The two governments simultaneously revealed details of the landmark arrangement on Wednesday, noting that travellers would be expected to pay about HK$1,890 per person for up to three tests, and that rapid Covid-19 testing would not be put into use for the travel bubble yet, slowing down movements.

The deal for the world’s first leisure travel bubble was negotiated between the two cities over the course of about two months as Covid-19 infections elsewhere in the world soared to more than 50 million cases and 1.3 million deaths.

“This policy is not easy to come by,” said Edward Yau Tang-wah, Hong Kong’s commerce and economic development secretary. “Whether the bubble can work and sustain [itself] well will depend on cooperation from all sides, including the participation of residents and their efforts in maintaining social distancing.”

Singapore ramps up testing ahead of Hong Kong travel bubble

Ong Ye Kung, Singapore’s transport minister, said: “This is as close as it gets to cross-border travel pre-Covid-19, and this is only possible because both Singapore and Hong Kong have successfully controlled the spread of Covid-19.”

The coronavirus pandemic has virtually shut down air travel and squeezed tourism-dependent economies. Airlines, among the hardest hit industries, were forced to ground most flights and seek government help to stay afloat.

Goh Choon Phong, Singapore Airlines (SIA) CEO, hailed the bubble arrangement, saying: “It paves the way for us to open up in a safe and calibrated way with the necessary testing protocols in place, and provides a promising model for other bilateral arrangements around the world.”

Travellers from both cities must take designated bubble flights and fulfil certain conditions and requirements, including undergoing up to three Covid-19 tests at various stages of the journey.

At the start of the scheme, there will be one flight a day into each city carrying 200 passengers, with Cathay Pacific and SIA operating alternating flights after the launch day. From December 7, the number of flights into each city will be increased to two daily.

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Hong Kong, Singapore reach agreement in principle on travel bubble

Hong Kong, Singapore reach agreement in principle on travel bubble

The travel bubble will be suspended if the daily average number of untraceable Covid-19 cases in a week reaches more than five in either city. When that figure drops below five again, the bubble will resume.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong recorded 18 new cases, including three untraceable local infections, the largest daily tally since October 8, health officials said. The city’s tally now stands at 5,407 cases, with 108 related deaths. There were 18 imported infections in Singapore, which has recorded a total of 58,091 cases and 28 deaths.

Meanwhile, in a setback for the airline industry, hopes of even speedier travel were dashed, as Hong Kong’s health authorities refused to rely upon rapid tests, which could yield Covid-19 results in as little as 30 minutes.

The Post reported on Tuesday that a rapid test at the heart of Hong Kong’s plans to reopen to international travel had yielded less accurate results than expected, prompting authorities to prolong the pilot trial for another week.

Under the current bubble plans, travellers arriving in Hong Kong would need to wait at least four hours for PCR test results.

Officials have ruled out the use of rapid Covid-19 testing in the initial implementation of the travel bubble. Photo: AFP

Dr Constance Chan Hon-yee, the Hong Kong government’s director of health, said the trials for rapid tests at the airport were ongoing.

“Until and unless the data proves to be sensitive and good enough, we will not be adopting this rapid test,” she said.

Cathay Pacific has automatically rebooked travellers with existing reservations onto designated bubble flights. Customers on other flights have the option to move to the quarantine-free service if they are eligible.

SIA, meanwhile, will redesignate some flights for the bubble while cancelling ones on non-bubble days. Transit passengers and those not eligible for quarantine-free travel will be transferred onto flights operated by its low-cost airline Scoot.

To access the travel corridor, a passenger from Hong Kong to Singapore must take a coronavirus test no more than 72 hours before departure at a recognised clinic or testing centre, with the latter costing HK$240. No additional test for Hong Kong passengers is needed upon arrival at Singapore’s airport.

A passenger from Singapore, however, will need an extra test upon arrival in Hong Kong, at a cost of HK$499, on top of a pre-departure test in the city state.

Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble: All you need to know about flights, tests and costs

Singapore’s Ong said that during discussions with Hong Kong, both sides agreed that what was “critical” was the pre-departure tests. “Beyond that, we say that in each other’s territories, I think we should have the flexibility to impose additional conditions should we want to, especially in the beginning,” he added.

Ong also urged airlines to be “responsible” when pricing airfares, and noted that while there was pent-up demand, there was also a lot of caution around travelling.

Hong Kong and Singapore have sought to form their own travel bubbles with other destinations to revive tourism. In 2019, Hong Kong had more than 450,000 arrivals from Singapore, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Its counterpart in the city state said it had 489,000 visitors from Hong Kong the same year.

Additional reporting by Kok Xinghui and Elizabeth Cheung

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: HK and Singapore give green light to world’s first leisure travel bubble
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