Travel bubble discussions between HK, Macau on table

Hong Kong has put travel bubble discussions with Macau on the table. However, roadblocks remain and need to be tackled before the two SAR regions forge a quarantine-free travel scheme, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive (CE) Carrie Lam proclaimed yesterday.
In the question and answer session at the Legislative Council yesterday, Lam disclosed she had spoken with Macau’s CE Ho Iat Seng at the Boao Forum in Hainan earlier on the possibility of ushering in a travel bubble to expedite travel flows between the two cities.
“I have discussed and explored the topic with him. Now we are working towards launching a travel bubble, or at least, facilitating travel measures between the two places, she declared.
Considering Macau and China have fully resumed cross-
border travel, the biggest problem arising from the potential travel bubble, she said, would be how to prevent Hong Kong residents who visit Macau through the scheme from skipping quarantine measures and entering China.
Earlier this month, Ho Iat Seng reaffirmed that the Hong Kong-Macau travel bubble would only be realized if Hong Kong registered no locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases for 14 consecutive days.
Yesterday, on April 28, Hong Kong recorded seven new confirmed Covid-19 cases — six of which are imported cases, while the last is considered a locally transmitted case.
Despite Lam’s confirmation about the travel bubble plan with Macau being afoot, the representative of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Lau Fong Chi confirmed at the Covid-19 media briefing this Monday that Macau has not yet engaged in any discussions about creating a travel bubble with other destinations.
Starting from today, Hong Kong has eased social-distancing restrictions for food and drink, and entertainment businesses, provided that the staff and patrons are inoculated with at least one jab.
The move is to promote a “vaccine bubble” locally to safeguard public health.