Coronavirus: Hong Kong residents swamp Shenzhen border crossing in search of protection from surging infections

Families, elderly couples and even a few mainland students studying in the city wait hours to cross into Shenzhen in bid to escape the rising wave of infections

Mother of two Elaine Chen was considering trying to cross and paying a scalper to secure one of the few hotel rooms available, until he raised his price

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Travellers queue at Shenzhen Bay control point to enter mainland China. Photo: Felix Wong

Lo Hoi-ying

Published: 7:00am, 12 Feb 2022Updated: 7:33am, 12 Feb 2022

Hundreds of residents have swamped the Hong Kong side of the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint in an attempt to cross the border and seek shelter from the worsening Covid-19 outbreak despite the required two weeks’ mandatory quarantine at a government-approved hotel on the other side.

A line of roughly 600 residents was snaking around the immigration hall even before the checkpoint opened at 10am on Friday, with parents carrying young children, the elderly and people using wheelchairs among them.

Some of them said they became stuck in Hong Kong after the Lunar New Year holiday last week and needed to get back to work in Guangdong province, while others expressed hope of finding refuge in Shenzhen where no infections had recently been reported.

Many complained about Hong Kong’s latest round of stringent social-distancing measures, which included limiting public gatherings to two people.

People line up at Shenzhen Bay control point to enter mainland China. Photo: Felix Wong

Hong Kong’s number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began more than two years ago reached 20,119 on Friday, and medical experts have forecast the fifth wave could last for several months.