Coronavirus: Shenzhen to consider raising entry quota for Hong Kong travellers once outbreak there is under control, health minister says

Shenzhen has promised to consider increasing its daily quarantine quota for Hong Kong arrivals once a Covid-19 outbreak in the mainland Chinese city is under control, the health minister has said.

Attending the panel on health services meeting at the Legislative Council on Friday, Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau also revealed that four rounds of talks had been held with mainland officials about adopting a “reverse quarantine” plan. The arrangement is aimed at boosting cross-border traffic by allowing travellers heading north to undergo isolation at designated facilities in Hong Kong.

“If Shenzhen has multiple outbreaks, it will use its own quarantine hotels to isolate close contacts instead. This we have to understand,” Lo said, explaining the city’s recent reduction in the daily quarantine quota for northbound Hongkongers.

“We will keep in touch with the Shenzhen municipal government … and we have received good news that once the city has controlled its epidemic, it will definitely consider increasing the quarantine quota for Hong Kong arrivals.”

In one of his first acts after taking office in July, Lo negotiated an increase in the quota from 1,300 to 2,000 travellers, but a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Shenzhen in September led the city to cut the number down to 1,000.

Covid-19 infections in Shenzhen have increased to more than 50 a day, after they fell to a low of 15 cases on September 20. The more transmissible Omicron variant BA.5.1.7 was also recently reported for the first time in Shaoguan, Guangdong province.

Hong Kong on Friday logged 5,106 infections, 336 of which were imported, and seven additional deaths. The city’s Covid-19 tally stands at 1,826,860 cases, with 10,261 related fatalities.