Hongkongers’ lengthy wait for border reopening likely to get longer, source says, as some brave quarantine to spend Lunar New Year with families in mainland China

Despite most of the groundwork being laid, Beijing is reluctant to give the green light for quarantine-free travel amid mainland outbreaks and Omicron’s spread

But for some, the wait has gone on long enough, and the prospect of shelling out to spend weeks in isolation is worth it to reunite with their families

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Beijing is still reluctant to throw open its border with Hong Kong, despite much of the groundwork being laid. Photo: May Tse

Published: 8:00am, 29 Dec 2021Updated: 11:01am, 29 Dec 2021

Hongkongers’ already lengthy wait for the resumption of quarantine-free cross-border travel is set to get a little longer, a source has said, with Beijing reluctant to give the green light amid Covid-19 outbreaks at home and the spread of the highly transmissive Omicron variant abroad.

Though most of the preparations for reopening the border with mainland China had already been completed – including reactivating checkpoints and ironing out the details of a health code system for Hong Kong travellers – it was still up to Beijing to decide when to lift restrictions, something they were unlikely to do under the current circumstances, the source said on Tuesday.

“The central government will have the final decision on when to start the border-opening process. But personally, I believe it might come only after all of Guangdong’s mid-risk zones are downgraded to low-risk by the health commission,” the source said.

Ten areas in the Guangdong city of Dongguan are still listed as mid-risk by mainland health authorities. Normally, an area’s risk level can only be downgraded to low after 14 consecutive days without a new, locally transmitted case.

“Omicron is a concern too, but it is not something totally new. What we need to do now is to ensure Guangdong achieves zero-Covid and has no mid- or high-risk areas,” the source added. “The outbreak in Xi’an is also worrying. I think that is why the central government has been very prudent on the border reopening.”