Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble seen as 'calculated gamble' but needed remedy for cabin fever

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Given the similar coronavirus prevalence rates in Singapore and Hong Kong and their proven capacities for testing and contact tracing, there are “no better two geographies” that can start a travel bubble in a bid to revive their stalled economies.

This was the reaction of health care expert Dr Jeremy Lim to Thursday’s official announcements that Singapore and Hong Kong have agreed to a travel bubble that will allow leisure travel for almost all their residents without the need for quarantines or a controlled itinerary.

Lim, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, said the risk of either economy importing the virus could occur through such a bubble, but that the possibility must be balanced with the economic benefits of restarting travel and connectivity.

Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious diseases expert at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, described the travel bubble as a “calculated gamble”, but added that the current environment was ripe for such a plan and that its success was a matter of putting the right virus-detection procedures in place.

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