BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2023) Regular traffic between Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China will be completely restored on February 6 after three years of COVID-19 restrictions, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the Chinese State Council said on Friday.
Most border checkpoints in Hong Kong were closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020. On January 8, mainland China and Hong Kong began to resume regular passenger traffic and introduced a daily quota, allowing 50,000 people per day to cross the border through ground checkpoints in both directions.
Starting February 6, regular traffic will be completely restored, the office said in a statement posted on WeChat, adding that quotas and mandatory reservations would no longer be needed for the border crossing.
People coming from Hong Kong and Macau will no longer be required to undergo PCR testing on arrival to the mainland provided that they have not been outside China's territory over the past seven days, the office said. Others will still need to get tested 48 hours prior the border crossing.
In December 2022, China's government started to gradually ease its "zero tolerance" policy towards COVID-19 cases, which had been the strictest in the world for almost three years. In particular, obligatory PCR testing and centralized isolation for people arriving in China were canceled on January 8. The easing of the measures took place despite an increase in COVID-19 infections.
