The first batch of visitors from the Chinese mainland line up at an immigration counter to cross to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at Futian port in Shenzhen on Jan 8, 2023. (PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)
The current mandatory COVID-19 tests required for travel between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Chinese mainland are due to be scrapped in the coming days, according to Tam Yiu-chung, a Hong Kong delegate to the country’s top legislature.
Citing Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki, Tam said a decision will be made soon, probably in the next few days, on the lifting of nucleic acid tests required for travelers.
At present, Hong Kong residents going to the mainland need to produce a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours of departure.
The daily quota set for HKSAR residents traveling north could also be removed as the quota had not been used up during the Chinese New Year holidays, and cross-boundary travel has been safe and orderly so far, according to Tam Yiu-chung, a Hong Kong delegate to the country’s top legislature
Tam said the daily quota set for SAR residents traveling north could also be removed as the quota had not been used up during the Chinese New Year holidays, and cross-boundary travel has been safe and orderly so far.
ALSO READ: HA reserves clinic quotas to support COVID-19 patients
He said both the SAR and the mainland are ready for a full resumption of normal travel that would not require bookings or nucleic acid tests.
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong – the city’s largest political party – had earlier sent a letter to the National Health Commission proposing that the nucleic acid tests for cross-boundary travel should be lifted.
READ MORE: HK set to scrap isolation for people with COVID, tally 3,283
According to the letter, the HKSAR government and the mainland authorities are discussing implementing the second phase of arrangements for the resumption of normal travel.