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Coronavirus Hong Kong
Hong KongHealth & Environment

Coronavirus: Hong Kong leader John Lee to pursue reopening of border with mainland China on Guangdong trip

  • Hong Kong and mainland on same page on sorting out measures to restore quarantine-free travel, he says
  • Chief executive says he will lay down ‘precise’ strategies and target high-risk activities in combating current wave of Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong

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John Lee meets the press after a policy address consultation session at Hong Kong Southern District Government Primary School. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Nadia LamandOscar Liu
Hong Kong’s leader will pursue the reopening of the border with mainland China during an expected visit to Guangdong province next week even though Covid-19 infection numbers have surged with the overall tally breaking through 1.5 million cases.
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Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Saturday said he was very conscious of the need to maintain the city’s connectivity with both the mainland and overseas countries, pointing to his decisions to halt a flight suspension mechanism and shorten the hotel quarantine period for arrivals since taking office in July.

He said Hong Kong and the mainland were on the same page on sorting out viable measures to restore quarantine-free travel.

“One of my main directions is to provide Hongkongers and people who go to the mainland via Hong Kong with convenience to travel, without increasing the epidemic risk to the mainland,” Lee said, adding the chance of reopening the border would be higher if the city could control infection numbers.

But Lee did not elaborate on the border reopening plan and timetable, saying it was inappropriate to disclose meeting details at the moment and the government would make further announcements when both sides had reached a consensus.

“It is better to announce the details when we have reached a certain stage of agreement, otherwise the information will be confusing,” Lee said.

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Health officials on Saturday reported 8,457 new infections, including 232 imported cases, and four more deaths. That pushed the overall number of cases to 1,504,264 with 9,441 Covid-related fatalities.

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