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Singapore unlikely to meet criteria to resume air travel with Hong Kong
THE planned air travel bubble (ATB) between Singapore and Hong Kong that was due to start on May 26 may be delayed further, as it’s likely that Singapore would not be able to meet the criteria for the bubble to carry on.
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said this at a press conference by the multi-ministry taskforce on Covid-19 on Friday.
This could be the second postponement of the ATB, after it was deferred last November following a spike in infections in Hong Kong.
Mr Ong said he has already spoken to his counterpart in Hong Kong, Hong Kong secretary for commerce and economic development Edward Yau, and agreed that while both international cities are committed to the ATB, they recognised the need to “restart safely and respect the mechanism”.
The criteria for the ATB to carry on is a seven-day moving average of five or fewer unlinked community cases, which both cities must adhere to.
In Singapore, the number of new cases in the community has risen from 48 in the week before to 71 in the past week.
“It is very likely that Singapore will not be able to meet the resumption criteria,” said Mr Ong. He added that a review on the start date will be conducted early next week and an announcement will be made after that.
Mr Ong said he is “cautiously hopeful” that the Changi Airport cluster of infections can be contained through quarantine and testing, but he is worried about the subsequent community transmission that has stemmed from the cluster.
He shared that the first 20 or so infections in the Changi Airport cluster have been plotted and they were found to come from a zone that handled arrivals from higher risk regions including South Asia. Of the 28 workers infected, 19 of them had been fully vaccinated.
Although the workers donned personal protective equipment (PPE), were tested regularly and were mostly vaccinated, the virus was still able to pass to members of the public in the Terminal 3 Basement 2 commercial areas and food court where the workers had their meals.
To prevent this from happening again, Changi Airport has reconfigured its operations so that workers in higher risk zones will remain within their zones, donning PPE and consuming catered meals there.
“The big worry now is the onward community transmission coming out of the commercial area in T3 B2. That is why we are announcing this series of measures today,” Mr Ong said.
At the end of the press conference, he reiterated a message to members of the public: “One more piece of nagging – if you have been to Changi Airport from May 1, please step forward and get yourself tested.”
Source: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-unlikely-to-meet-criteria-to-resume-air-travel-with-hong-kong