Authorities on the Chinese mainland have announced that travel restrictions with Hong Kong and Macau will be eased from Sunday (January 8), with most Covid-19 controls due to be scrapped.
According to a Thursday announcement, from this Sunday people travelling inbound to the mainland via Macau will no longer need to present a ‘negative’ result of a nucleic acid test or do a rapid antigen test, provided they have not been to any regions or countries outside Macau in the prior seven days.
Those inbound to the mainland from Hong Kong will need a ‘negative’ result from a sample obtained 48 hours before departure. They will also need to take a rapid antigen test on arrival, if either they have Covid-type symptoms, or their health code declaration indicates anything other than a clean bill of health either when they are in transit, or when they arrive at the border.
The information was in a statement issued on Thursday by the State Council’s “Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism” for Covid-19 management. Nonetheless it emerged at a subsequent press conference on the topic, held in Hong Kong, that initially for Hong Kong-mainland travel, there would be a daily quota of 60,000 outbound journeys via land crossing, and an additional 10,000 per-day quota via either ferry or air services.
According to the State Council, limits on passenger capacity for flights between Macau and mainland destinations are to be eased on a gradual basis. The same will happen to flights between Hong Kong and mainland destinations.
Thursday’s statement also said that with effect from Sunday, application for exit permits from the mainland for purposes either of tourism or business trips to Hong Kong would be resumed. Traffic at land crossings from the mainland to Macau and Hong Kong respectively; and maritime passenger services between Hong Kong and Macau would also be resumed in what the State Council termed an orderly manner.
The Macau authorities had, starting from December 23, lifted quarantine requirements for people arriving in the city either from overseas, Hong Kong, or Taiwan.
Mainland China is to end from Sunday, inbound quarantine for those arriving to the country from overseas.
