Bangkok — Singapore's government said on Thursday it would shelve a quarantine-free "travel bubble" it had lined up since last year with rival Asian finance hub Hong Kong.

Transport Minister S Iswaran said Singapore would instead open "unilaterally" to arrivals, including tourists, from Hong Kong, so long as they test negative for the coronavirus before and after arrival. 

Similar arrangements have been in place since last year for Brunei, parts of China, New Zealand and Taiwan, currently the only locations from which Singapore is accepting tourists.

Singapore will also from next month permit some vaccinated arrivals, tourists included, from Germany and Brunei, who will be allowed in without having to quarantine but will be tested for the virus before and after arrival.

Currently Singapore only accepts work-related or official arrivals, along with returning Singaporeans, from Germany.

Singapore's airport, once one of the world's busiest, is running at a 3 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity, a situation Iswaran said was "not sustainable" as the tiny city-state relies "on being open and connected."

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