• HK-China border reopening hangs on Omicron’s spread - Asia Times
    https://asiatimes.com/2021/12/hk-china-border-reopening-hangs-on-omicrons-spread

    HK-China border reopening hangs on Omicron’s spread
    Analysts predict HK retail prices and rents will surge when borders are opened but Omicron fears are casting doubts on the plan
    by Jeff Pao December 6, 2021
    HONG KONG – Quarantine-free travel between Hong Kong and Macau and mainland China is expected to be implemented around Christmas, an opening that promises to boost Hong Kong’s retail and property sectors and revive cross-border business.On Friday, the Hong Kong government will allow people to download a health code that is compatible with those of Macau and the mainland so they can cross the border with a full location record.It is still discussing with the Guangdong provincial government about a “circuit breaker,” hoping that quarantine-free travel will be suspended only if two clusters of local infections are reported.
    Last month, health officials and experts expected the so-called border reopening would start in early December. However, Beijing changed its mind as it did not want to cause any disruption to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council elections on December 19 and activities related to the 22nd anniversary of the Macau Special Administrative Region on December 20.
    Property experts said if quarantine-free travel is not affected by the emergence of the Omicron strain of Covid-19, then prices and rents of Hong Kong’s retail shops could rebound in the short-term by as much as 30% and 60%.Manufacturers have said they would expand their retail businesses after the Hong Kong-mainland border was fully reopened, hopefully after the Chinese New Year in February.Since virus outbreaks in Wuhan were made public in late January 2020, people traveling across the border of Hong Kong and the mainland have been required to follow strict quarantine measures.People must be isolated for 14 days when they enter the mainland, although Hong Kong residents and mainlanders can enter Hong Kong from the mainland without quarantine via the Return2HK and Come2HK schemes. Last week, the Hong Kong government put four South African countries and 12 other countries on its high-risk list due to the growing number of Omicron cases around the world.On December 1, it announced that a 38-year-old man who arrived in Hong Kong from Qatar on November 24 was stuck in the restricted transit area at Hong Kong International Airport for four days due to a visa-related issue and tested positive with Omicron in a pre-departure test on November 28.
    David Hui, a professor of respiratory medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a government advisor on the pandemic, said on Sunday the border reopening schedule would not be affected by the four imported Omicron cases reported in Hong Kong.Hui said as it took four months to fully reopen the Macau-mainland border, Hong Kong should only expect a full border-reopening after February.
    The South China Morning Post reported on November 18 that a trial scheme for people to travel from Hong Kong to the mainland without quarantine would be launched in the first week of December.However, Beijing later decided to postpone the launch to late December to avoid causing any virus outbreaks that would disrupt the LegCo elections on December 19, HK01.com reported on December 3, citing officials familiar with the situation.A small-scale border-reopening scheme with a daily quota of 1,000 people would kick off before Christmas, Hong Kong media reported on Monday. The quota would then increase to 5,000 by next February.
    Although the Guangdong government has said it would prefer to suspend the scheme whenever a local case is identified, the Hong Kong government suggested that the scheme be suspended only if two clusters of patients were identified.Last Friday, the Hong Kong government said the “Hong Kong Health Code” system would be open for registration from 9am on December 10. It said people could register an account and familiarize themselves with its functions earlier, with a view to facilitating a smoother operation when quarantine-free travel with the mainland and Macau officially resumes.
    Applicants for the health code are required to register personal information such as name, identity document number and date of issue, contact telephone number and residential address and upload Hong Kong residential address proof. The information would be shared with the mainland only if the code’s user tested positive, said the government.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#chine#macau#afriquedusud#frontiere#circulation#omicron#codesante#cluster#quota

  • Hong Kong pushes health code to open up travel - Asia Times
    https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/hong-kong-pushes-health-code-to-open-up-travel

    The Hong Kong government is pushing hard for the launch of a health code system that will let people travel in the Greater Bay Area without being quarantined. Chief Executive Carrie Lam told local newspapers she had explained to the central government that it was hard for Hong Kong to have zero local cases though the city had been successful in identifying imported cases. Whenever Hong Kong managed to control its epidemic, it could reopen its border with mainland China under certain conditions, which include the launch of a health code system, the use of negative test certificates and a cap on the number of travellers, Lam said.
    If Hong Kong could reopen its border with Guangdong, it would not be far to resume travel between the territory and Macau, she said, adding that she was closely monitoring the number of local infections every day.According to the mainland’s standard, a low-risk region refers to a province or city that has not recorded any local case for 14 consecutive days. A single case can make a place become a medium-risk region. The Center for Health Protection said Monday that a total of 15 cases were recorded, including 14 imported cases and one local infection, within the 24 hours on Sunday. The local case could be linked to previous cases. It was the third day Hong Kong has recorded no local infection with no known source. Between Friday and Saturday, 21 cases were identified, comprising 19 imported cases and two local cases with known sources.
    Three in four Hong Kong people hoped that they could be allowed to visit Macau and mainland China freely with a health code system as early as possible, according to a survey conducted by Youth Vision, a pro-Beijing activist group, which interviewed 1,780 people between October 8 and 12 over the Internet.Ben Chan, an advisor of Youth Vision and a lawmaker of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, said people who had to travel between Hong Kong and mainland due to medical or family reasons had been seriously affected by the border closure this year. Chan urged the Hong Kong government to speed up its discussions with the central government about the launch of a health code system for the Greater Bay Area region. Chan also said it would be more urgent to reopen Hong Kong’s border with Macau, rather than forming a “travel bubble” with Singapore, as many Hong Kong people’s relatives were living in the nearby special administrative region.According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the number of visitors to Hong Kong amounted to 9,132 in September, down 99.7% from the same period last year. Last week, the Hong Kong government announced that Singapore and the territory had agreed to set up an “air travel bubble” that would allow people to travel between the two places with negative test certificates. Meanwhile, Sophia Chan, the Secretary for Food and Health, said in a radio program on Sunday that the government was seeking legal advice about requiring those who have mild illness symptoms to have mandatory virus tests.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#singapour#chine#macau#frontiere#sante#circulation#bullevoyage#codesante#casimporte