Coronavirus: Shenzhen to consider raising entry quota for Hong Kong travellers once outbreak there is under control, health minister says
- Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau also reveals four meetings have been held with mainland officials to advance ‘reverse quarantine’ plan
- ‘Once [Shenzhen] has controlled its epidemic, it will definitely consider increasing the quarantine quota for Hong Kong arrivals,’ minister says
Shenzhen has promised to consider increasing its daily quarantine quota for Hong Kong arrivals once a Covid-19 outbreak in the mainland Chinese city is under control, the health minister has said.
Attending the panel on health services meeting at the Legislative Council on Friday, Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau also revealed that four rounds of talks had been held with mainland officials about adopting a “reverse quarantine” plan. The arrangement is aimed at boosting cross-border traffic by allowing travellers heading north to undergo isolation at designated facilities in Hong Kong.
“If Shenzhen has multiple outbreaks, it will use its own quarantine hotels to isolate close contacts instead. This we have to understand,” Lo said, explaining the city’s recent reduction in the daily quarantine quota for northbound Hongkongers.
“We will keep in touch with the Shenzhen municipal government … and we have received good news that once the city has controlled its epidemic, it will definitely consider increasing the quarantine quota for Hong Kong arrivals.”
In one of his first acts after taking office in July, Lo negotiated an increase in the quota from 1,300 to 2,000 travellers, but a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Shenzhen in September led the city to cut the number down to 1,000.
Covid-19 infections in Shenzhen have increased to more than 50 a day, after they fell to a low of 15 cases on September 20. The more transmissible Omicron variant BA.5.1.7 was also recently reported for the first time in Shaoguan, Guangdong province.
Hong Kong on Friday logged 5,106 infections, 336 of which were imported, and seven additional deaths. The city’s Covid-19 tally stands at 1,826,860 cases, with 10,261 related fatalities.
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Health authorities also recorded the first infections involving the Omicron subvariants BQ.1.1 and BA.4.6, and three more cases of the more transmissible XBB one, taking the tally to 32.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has repeatedly said controlling the local epidemic situation while opening up to the world “in an orderly manner” would provide a strong basis for negotiating with the mainland on reducing curbs at the shared border, arguing that easing restrictions with the rest of the world and the mainland was not mutually exclusive.
But the leader did not mention the full resumption of cross-border travel in a work report posted on Facebook marking his 100th day in office.
At the panel meeting, Starry Lee Wai-king, chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, pressed the health minister for progress on the “reverse quarantine” scheme, which was first proposed by her party.
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In response, Lo said: “We are actively moving ‘reverse quarantine’ forward, we have already had four meetings with the Guangdong and Shenzhen administrations to discuss operational details.
“Apart from the hardware, meaning the facility at the Lok Ma Chau Loop Area, we have also discussed manpower and other issues. We are actively planning for that.”
Allen Shi Lop-tak, president of the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong, said the business sector was eagerly anticipating the roll-out of reverse quarantine.
“There are only 1,000 quarantine quotas for arrivals from Hong Kong to Shenzhen per day,” he said. “It is very difficult to get a place.”
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Shi suggested residents undergoing reverse quarantine could stay at hotels, rather than at government-run facilities, which might “put people off”.
He said he expected a “clear road map” for the city’s further opening up after the Chinese Communist Party’s congress next week, adding his sector was “optimistic”.
Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said it was “understandable” if the Shenzhen government was harbouring doubts about reverse quarantine given it was also managing a rise in Covid-19 infections.
“As Shenzhen has the control over the matter, Hong Kong cannot push ahead if it wishes to,” he said.
Resuming international travel without entry restrictions would be more urgent than rolling out reverse quarantine, Chui added.
“Mainlanders probably will not choose to take a [leisure] trip to Hong Kong and undergo a few days of quarantine after returning to the mainland,” he said.
