Potential Guangdong Covid-19 outbreak could put Hong Kong’s long-sought border reopening with mainland China in jeopardy
- Guangdong reports two Covid-19 infections involving man and woman who had visited several venues and taken an internal flight; province also detects its first Omicron case
- Hong Kong’s No 2 official John Lee and three ministers meet Guangdong counterparts in Shenzhen to further refine logistical details of reopening
Hong Kong’s long-awaited border reopening with mainland China could be jeopardised by a potential Covid-19 outbreak in Guangdong and the province’s first Omicron case, even as the city plans to offer more BioNTech booster shots from next month to step up protection.
Later in the day, Guangzhou identified the province’s first Omicron case, making it the second imported infection of the heavily mutated variant on the mainland. The first case was identified in Tianjin city on Monday. But the Guangzhou infection might be less of a worry as the man was self-isolating when he tested positive.
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“While the imported Omicron case found in Guangzhou is of some concern, the patient has been under closed-loop management since he arrived in China,” said a Guangdong health official familiar with the border-reopening arrangements.
“So far all of the people who took care of the case tested negative. So the risk of spreading is not high.
“The two Dongguan cases are a bigger concern as they have many close contacts. We have traced and contacted most of them. They have already been sent to centralised quarantine facilities. Now we are waiting for the test results of these close contacts.”
Asked how the situation might affect Hongkongers on the mainland planning to vote in Sunday’s Legislative Council election at polling booths set up at three border checkpoints, the source said: “As for the Hong Kong people living in Guangdong, they will need to follow lockdown and quarantine arrangements.”
