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Hong Kong, Singapore agree quarantine-free travel bubble
Hong Kong and Singapore will establish a travel bubble as two of Asia’s main business and air hubs push to reopen.
A launch date will be announced in the coming weeks, officials said.
It would allow two-way quarantine-free travel on presentation of a negative Covid-19 test result, said Hong Kong’s Commerce Secretary Edward Yau and Singapore’s Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung.
It would be applicable for travel on dedicated flights.
"It is a safe, careful but significant step forward to revive air travel, and provide a model for future collaboration with other parts of the world," Ong said.
Singapore has opened similar travel corridors with other countries such as New Zealand, but this is the first for Hong Kong.
Hong Kong has banned all non-residents since March except for transit passengers and those from mainland China and Macau, subject to quarantining.
Singapore recently halved the mandatory quarantine to seven days for travellers arriving from Hong Kong.
The move was welcomed by IATA.
Conrad Clifford, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Asia Pacific, said: "We welcome the announcement on establishing a travel bubble between the two cities. Replacing quarantine measures with Covid-19 testing will help in re-opening borders, restoring the connectivity that jobs depends on, and gives passengers greater confidence to travel."
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
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TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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