Call to raise 1,000-per-day Shenzhen quarantine quota for Hong Kong travellers so businesses can benefit from Beijing’s newly eased Covid rules
- Beijing’s new policy allows inbound travellers to serve five days of hotel quarantine – down from a week – and three in home isolation
- Those crossing over from Hong Kong are still subject to a daily quota in Shenzhen
Hong Kong businesses could reap the benefits of Beijing’s latest easing of Covid-19 arrival curbs if the Shenzhen quarantine quota for cross-border travellers from the financial hub is raised from the current 1,000, according to a government adviser.
Executive councillor Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung pushed for an alignment in policies on Saturday after mainland China cut its week-long hotel quarantine for inbound travellers to five days. Lam and others also urged authorities to allow business owners and those needing to visit their families across the border to travel under a “closed-loop bubble” arrangement without isolation.
Under the latest rule changes unveiled by the National Health Commission on Friday, incoming visitors will serve five days of hotel quarantine followed by three in home isolation according to a “5+3” model, applicable also to those from Hong Kong.
Businesspeople and sports groups regarded as “important” by authorities will be allowed to conduct their activities in a quarantine-free “management zone”.
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“The new ‘5+3’ arrangement on the mainland will definitely help stimulate Hong Kong’s economic recovery. It provides convenience for Hong Kong travellers to visit the mainland while attracting mainland tourists to come to the city,” Lam told a radio programme.
“We hope that mainland authorities will further relax Covid-19 curbs and increase the daily entry quota for Hongkongers going to the mainland [via Shenzhen], which currently stands at 1,000 per day.”
He also voiced hope the Hong Kong government could persuade mainland authorities to allow most local businesses and residents needing to visit their families to cross the border under a quarantine-free policy. The National Health Commission’s notice did not specify what were considered “important” businesses.
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Allen Shi Lop-tak, president of the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong, urged mainland authorities to release more details on the “management zone” arrangement, such as defining who qualified and how they could apply.
“This closed-loop management zone could enable more Hong Kong businessmen to participate in trade fairs and conduct commercial activities on the mainland to tap into opportunities,” he said.
The 20-point plan announced by the commission on Friday is seen as a major change in the mainland’s strict Covid-19 approach. A rule suspending flights that bring in too many infected passengers was also dropped.
Danny Lau Tat-pong, honorary chairman of the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises Association, praised the relaxations as a “progressive change” which could help stimulate Hong Kong’s businesses.
But Lau, who had not visited his factory in Dongguan for nearly three years since the pandemic began, said he would wait for a further reduction in the quarantine period before heading over.
Michael Hui Wah-kit, chairman of the Small and Medium Enterprises Committee, said he had visited his company in Shenzhen and Shunde, as well as his wife and youngest son in Wuhan, in the past few years despite the strict quarantine rules.
“More importantly, these series of adjustments shows mainland authorities are easing pandemic rules. They are trying to make the enforcement more systematic, and with smaller disruptions to people’s lives. This is good for consumption as well.”
Shi Meng, 33, who works at an insurance company in Hong Kong, said the latest adjustment made him more confident about taking his wife and two young sons, aged four and six, to the mainland for Christmas and Lunar New Year.
“They only saw their grandparents in Wuhan when they were very small, and couldn’t remember anything about mainland China,” he said.
“Now with this whole set of rules being eased, we can be quarantined in Shenzhen first, and then we can take our kids to big cities like Guangzhou and maybe Beijing before spending the Spring Festival in Hubei province,” Shi added, referring to the Lunar New Year holiday stretch in January.
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Under the latest relaxation of rules, residents travelling from high-risk areas to other parts of the country will spend seven days in home isolation instead of at a centralised quarantine facility.
A Hong Kong resident, who asked to be identified only as Mai and who had been separated from her 23-year-old son working in Guangzhou for the past three years, also hoped the new rule meant she could finally see him next month.
“He often calls us and asks us to visit him, but seven days of quarantine was too expensive for us,” the unemployed 51-year-old woman said.
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She lives in Sham Shui Po with her husband, who typically earns HK$16,000 to HK$18,000 (US$2,038 to US$2,293) a month as a transport worker.
Mai said that, with the rules being eased, five nights in hotel quarantine could cost her HK$5,000 to HK$6,000, which was “acceptable”.
But she highlighted that, because the mainland relied on a centralised mechanism to allocate quarantine hotel slots, it was uncertain if she would be allocated a cheaper hotel, or any room at all.
