HONG KONG (China Daily/ANN): The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will help boost Hong Kong’s long-term economic growth in the post-pandemic era, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah said Wednesday (May 12).
3 Office workers scan a Safe Entry QR code to enter a mall in Singapore on Monday. (Reuters photo)
HONG KONG: 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 sparked by a 30-year-old engineer from Dubai.
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.
As Singapore’s government assesses any potential change to a planned travel bubble with Hong Kong following a spike in local virus cases, families on both sides of the South China Sea are waiting and watching with bated breath again.
Visitors from Hong Kong, if they do come, will experience a Singapore thatâs recently tightened restrictions once again. A growing cluster linked to a large public hospital has triggered a three-week crackdown, including limiting social gatherings to no more than five people and restraining border movements to stem the spread of the new variant first identified in India.
While barbecue pits, gyms and campsites are closed, restaurants are open and in most cases, busy. Patrons must however finish drinking by around 10pm. Operating capacity for attractions like museums and public libraries has been scaled back to 50%, tour groups capped at 20 people, and the use of Singaporeâs TraceTogether app, which must be scanned to enter everything from supermarkets, shops, malls and eateries, will be mandatory from May 17.
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung acknowledged it is a difficult time to talk about reopening borders. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Some safe opening of air travel in 2021 is possible if governments open up cautiously with regions that have a low number of domestic Covid-19 cases, said Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung.
At the same time, measures should be tightened for places with high infection rates, he added in a speech on Monday (May 3) at a virtual dialogue on reopening borders by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Business Advisory Council.
Making the point that vaccines are working , he said: We are not likely to see a strong V-shaped recovery in aviation this year. But the start of a recovery is possible, and worth working towards.