Coronavirus: Hong Kong-Singapore travel bubble to launch as scheduled this month despite recent cases, commerce minister says

Current infections ‘well below’ threshold that would trigger a pause in quarantine-plan, Edward Yau says as city confirms one local, one imported case on Wednesday

But Singapore has recently seen a sharp uptick in infections after months with none, including a cluster at its airport and a large hospital

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A quarantine-free travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore is still on track to begin on May 26, the commerce minister says. Photo: AFP

Natalie Wong,Elizabeth CheungandDewey Simin Singapore

Published: 4:06pm, 12 May 2021Updated: 10:43pm, 12 May 2021

Hong Kong will launch its quarantine-free travel bubble with Singapore as scheduled on May 26 despite sporadic local coronavirus infections, the city’s commerce minister has said.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah offered the reassurance as Hong Kong confirmed two new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.

One involved a domestic helper arriving from the Philippines and the other a 42-year-old man linked to a local cluster of variant infections connected to a 30-year-old engineer from Dubai. New research however suggests the engineer contracted the mutated virus from a person staying in an adjacent hotel room during quarantine.

Remaining optimistic for the travel bubble launch, Yau said the city’s seven-day moving average of unlinked local cases was lower than one, while Singapore’s was between 1.6 and 1.8.

“The numbers are well below the established threshold to trigger a pause in the bubble. We will closely monitor if the situation gets worse,” Yau told reporters following a Legislative Council session.

Commerce minister Edward Yau says infection rates are well below the threshold that would threaten plans for the Hong Kong-Singapore travel bubble. Photo: Warton Li