The travel bubble, which will allow quarantine-free travel between the two cities, is set to open next month.
Progress is being made for arrangements to open the world's first two-way travel bubble, which could open in November, due to similar successes in containing the pandemic in the two cities, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday, «South China Morning Post» reported.
This was confirmed by Singapore Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung, who told «The Business Times» on Wednesday that discussions «have indeed been going well, and we share the assessment of (Ms Lam).» An in-principle agreement to revive air travel between the two regional hubs was reached earlier this month.
While the bubble allows leisure trips, travelers must still produce negative Covid-19 test results and travel on dedicated flights, according to details announced by Singapore's Ministry of Transport (MOT) previously said in a statement.
Reopening Borders
Separately, Singapore's Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced that travelers who arrive from Estonia, Fiji, Finland, Japan, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Turkey from November 4 will be able to spend their mandatory 14-day quarantine period at their place of residence instead of dedicated quarantine facilities.
Singapore will also stop paying for stays at dedicated self-isolation facilities from January 2021 for citizens and permanent residents, the announcement said.
Daily virus cases in the city-state have been steadily declining in recent weeks to the low single digits or zero.
