Amid the resumption of talks with Singapore over a much-delayed travel bubble, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam has said that Singapore will not impose a requirement on travellers from Hong Kong to be vaccinated before their trip.
But Hong Kong will make it mandatory for people leaving the city for Singapore to be vaccinated, she added.
Mrs Lam was echoing statements made by Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau on March 29 when he announced that Hong Kong residents who take part in travel bubble arrangements would have to receive their two doses of the vaccine and wait at least 14 days after the second jab before they can go on such flights.
Even before the roll-out of the free and voluntary inoculation programme, officials in February said they were reviewing the benefits and incentives that people could get in terms of travel, such as serving a shorter quarantine period, once they are vaccinated.
Ahead of her weekly meeting with the Executive Council yesterday, Mrs Lam said: "The basis for discussion with Singapore is that people leaving Hong Kong and entering Singapore need to be vaccinated.
"We want to provide incentives to encourage Hong Kong citizens to get vaccinated."
When asked about the timeline, Mrs Lam said she "expects an early indication of agreement between the two sides".
Under the original agreement between Singapore and Hong Kong, passengers would have to test negative for Covid-19 before they can board the direct flights.
Singapore Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung previously said on Money FM 89.3 that bilateral travel corridors for vaccinated travellers from places with low and moderate infection rates could come in the later half of this year.
Before that, Mr Ong also told Parliament early last month that there were no plans to require travellers to be vaccinated against Covid-19 before they could enter Singapore.
Talks on the travel bubble were restarted after the current wave of infections in Hong Kong was brought under control.
The travel bubble was shelved at the last minute in late November, after coronavirus cases spiralled out of control in Hong Kong in the fourth wave of the pandemic. It was again delayed in December after infection numbers spiked in the city.
Over the past week, the territory has been recording two or three local infections daily. There were 13 new cases, of which three were local, yesterday. Hong Kong has more than 11,600 Covid-19 cases and 207 deaths in all.
Mrs Lam on Monday outlined plans to ease social distancing rules in the city and cross-border measures for people who are vaccinated.
The mandatory quarantine period for fully vaccinated visitors from low-risk areas such as Singapore, Australia and New Zealand could be reduced to seven days in total or lower.
The earliest time at which measures can be relaxed for those vaccinated will be after April 28, the last day of extended social distancing rules being in effect.
The vaccination rate in the city of 7.5 million people remains sluggish, with over 870,000 vaccine doses administered. The six-week-old inoculation drive has been dented by concerns over adverse reactions and more than a dozen deaths linked to the Sinovac and Pfizer-BioNTech shots.
But Monday's proposal to ease rules for those vaccinated led to a doubling of appointments at Hong Kong inoculation centres, Bloomberg reported.
The report added that the start of designated travel bubble flights would not plug massive losses suffered by Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines, but would at least be a positive development.
Both airlines, without domestic markets to fall back on, have been severely hurt by international travel drying up during the pandemic.
