Travel bubble with Singapore on track

The quarantine-free travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore is on track to begin on May 26 "as of now," the city-state's foreign minister says, but authorities in both places have to monitor the situation over the next few days.

"As of now the plan is yes, but we have to watch how the situation evolves over the next few days," Vivian Balakrishnan told CNBC yesterday.

Balakrishnan also said Covid-19 is endemic in humanity, which means "it's not ever going to go away completely."

The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said the Hong Kong government has been in communication with Singapore and will continue to closely monitor the epidemic situation in the two regions before the travel bubble is launched on May 26.

Hong Kong yesterday reported four new Covid-19 cases, all imported - three from Indonesia and one India - making yesterday the third consecutive day without any local infection.

The city's was 11,812 cases, including 210 deaths as of yesterday.

Fewer than five preliminary positive cases are pending confirmation.

Singapore's infection tally rose to 61,378, including three local cases and 16 imported recorded yesterday.

Two of the community cases work at Singapore's Changi Airport Terminal 3 and are linked to the airport cluster that emerged when an 88-year-old cleaner was confirmed with Covid-19 on May 5.

The upcoming travel bubble between would allow travelers from both sides to be exempted from quarantine. But it would be suspended for two weeks if the seven-day moving average of the daily number of unlinked local cases reaches more than five cases in either jurisdiction.

It can only resume if the seven-day moving average reported on the last day of the two-week suspension does not exceed five. On top of that, the number of unlinked local cases for both places cannot exceed three for three consecutive days before lifting the suspension.

Aside from having to test negative before departure and after arrival, people traveling from Hong Kong to Singapore are required to have two vaccine doses at least 14 days before traveling.

As of Sunday, about 670,200 Hong Kong people have had both doses, with 341,500 opting for the mainland's Sinovac vaccine and 328,700 receiving the German-made BioNTech jab.

Another 1,071,500 have received their first doses, comprising 477,000 with Sinovac and 594,500 with BioNTech.

Balakrishnan also told CNBC that around 20 percent of Singapore's population has been vaccinated, but the government does not have a defined threshold for when herd immunity would be reached.

"As new variants keep evolving and as these new variants, in fact, appear to be more infectious than the original strain, the level of herd immunity mathematically will change," he said.

"It is likely that the immunity from vaccination may also wane with time.

"So the point is you can't expect to say you've reached the magic figure and you're suddenly immune and it's mask off and no restrictions."

maisy.mok@singtaonewscorp.com