3rd January 2023 – (Hong Kong) The joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council announced on Friday (3rd) that from next Monday (6th), personnel exchanges between the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao will be fully resumed, and the ports adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao in the Mainland should be opened as much as possible.
The Chief Executive and other top government executives including Chief Secretary for Administration, Eric Chan and Secretary for Security, Chris Tang held a press conference at 11am today. Chief Executive John Lee announced that there will be no longer any quota on the number of cross-border travellers at all ports and all visitors from Mainland and Hong Kong can travel freely starting from 6th February.
All testing requirements including nucleic acid testing will be cancelled. All ports including Lo Wu Control Point (opening hours: 6am – 12am), Heung Yuen Wai Control Point (opening hours: 7am – 10pm) , temporary passenger clearance building at Huanggang Port will be reopened while freight transport operations at Sha Tau Kok will also be resumed (operating hours: 7am – 10pm). Lok Ma Chau will be operational for 24 hours and waiting time at Lo Wu Control Point Point will be longer due to enhancement works at port.
Pre-arrival PCR testing requirements for arrivals from Macao will also be cancelled. Meanwhile, COVID-19 vaccination requirements for Hong Kong residents and non-Hong Kong residents coming to Hong Kong will also be scrapped. Overseas arrivals still need to take Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) after arriving in Hong Kong. The measure will remain for a period of observation.
As there will be a large number of cross-border travellers between Mainland and Hong Kong, Rapid Antigen Test (RAT requirement) will be maintained.
In addition, starting from next Wednesday, all cross-border high school students from Mainland can come to Hong Kong to attend face-to-face classes, classes for cross-border students from primary schools, kindergartens and special schools will resume on 22nd February. The phases are based on the self-care ability and cross-border needs of students of different ages. The Education Bureau will continue to contact relevant departments, academics, and school bus operators to provide support.
The authorities also revealed that since the quarantine-free border reopening between Mainland and Hong Kong to 2nd February, Hong Kong recorded 770,000 northbound passengers and more than 700,000 southbound passengers.
Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-Mau said that the epidemic has entered a new stage, and there is a new mode of control. There has been no quarantine order since 30th January. The epidemic situation in various places has continued to decline. From 8th to 29th January, the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong dropped by 80% from 14,000 per day to 4,000. The epidemic situation in Hong Kong did not intensify but it reduced instead. The ratio of imported cases to local figures remained low, about 2.6%, while cases from the Mainland accounted for only 16% of the total imported cases, reflecting the low risk of imports from the Mainland.