Starting Wednesday, people who haven’t been to medium- or
high-risk areas on the mainland or Macao can enter the city, capped at 2,000
travelers a day, chief executive Carrie Lam said in a news conference.
Travelers will still need a negative COVID-19 test prior to arrival and must
take several tests while in Hong Kong to ensure they’re not infected.
Hong Kong halted quarantine-free travel in early August and
imposed a mandatory quarantine period of seven or 14 days, depending on the
traveler’s vaccination status. Hong Kong’s “zero-COVID” strategy has seen
authorities impose strict border restrictions and ban flights from extremely
high-risk countries, in the hope that no local cases would allow it to reopen
borders with mainland China.
Currently, mainland China has strict border restrictions
that allow only Chinese nationals or those with valid residence permits and
visas to enter the country, and all travelers are required to quarantine at
least 14 days. Since the beginning of the pandemic, most Hong Kongers haven’t
been able to freely enter mainland China.
Restrictions will ease further next Wednesday, when mainland
residents will be able to enter the city without quarantine via the Shenzhen
Bay port and the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge, capped at 1,000 visitors each,
Lam said. These visitors will also need to test negative before traveling.
The changes, part of a “Come2HK” plan announced Tuesday, are
expected to boost the city’s tourism industry, which took a beating during
months of political strife in 2019 and pandemic-related border restrictions.
Tourist numbers fell by as much as 99% in 2020 compared to pre-pandemic levels. -AP
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