SINGAPORE, April 26 (CNA) - Singapore and Hong Kong have agreed to set May 26 as the launch date of the travel bubble between the two cities, Singapore's Ministry of Transport (MOT) said on Monday (Apr 26).

Both cities have reviewed the arrangements and made several improvements to the agreement, said the ministry. This includes stricter conditions for the resumption of the travel bubble, should it be suspended due to new COVID-19 community clusters in either city.

The travel bubble was originally scheduled to begin in November last year, but was deferred due to a spike in infections in Hong Kong.

"The COVID-19 situation in Hong Kong has improved, with very few local unlinked COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks. Community cases in Singapore remained very low throughout the time," said MOT.

"The risk profiles of both cities are therefore now similar."

Both cities will closely monitor the COVID-19 situation from now to the targeted launch date of May 26, and will proceed with the launch "if the situation continues to be steady and under control in both cities", the ministry said.