Hong Kong, 21st November: The governments of Hong Kong and Singapore had agreed to establish a “travel bubble” that was to commence on 22nd November. The arrangement would have allowed residents of Hong Kong and Singapore to travel between the two cities without requiring a quarantine period. The terms of the agreement would have required multiple COVID-19 tests, downloading a tracking app and an application for the newly created Air Travel Pass.

The travel bubble, however, never officially opened. Hong Kong began experiencing a spike in cases on Friday and Saturday last week, and on Sunday the two governments agreed to delay opening of the bubble for at least two weeks. The number of new cases in Hong Kong has since jumped from a daily average of about ten to between 60 and 80 each day.