Shenzhen reduces entry quota for Hong Kong travellers amid resource squeeze during local Covid-19 epidemic
- Number of spaces at Shenzhen’s quarantine facility for Hong Kong travellers to drop to 1,000 by Monday
- Source says quota reduction temporary measure until Shenzhen contains recent rise in coronavirus cases
Authorities in Shenzhen will “temporarily” reduce the city’s daily quarantine quota for Hong Kong arrivals from Thursday before halving it to 1,000 by the start of next week, the Post has learned, amid a resource squeeze during a worsening Covid-19 outbreak.
A check of the Shenzhen municipal government’s website by the Post found that the total number of available units per day at the city’s designated quarantine facilities had dropped to 1,800 for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, reaching 1,500 on Sunday, before hitting 1,000 on Monday and Tuesday.
A Guangdong government source on Wednesday said the temporary reduction in quarantine spaces for Hong Kong travellers heading to mainland China was a precautionary measure, as Shenzhen needed to mobilise more resources to contain Covid-19 cases in the city.
“No matter if the current local infections are caused by imported cases, it is important for us to be more efficient at quarantine facilities to handle travellers from Hong Kong with even more care, so that we can have a better control of the overall situation,” the insider said.
“Especially when the 20th party congress is around the corner, we cannot afford to take any chances,” he said, referring to the twice-a-decade national meeting of China’s Communist Party to lay out leadership and constitutional changes.
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Under the mainland’s “7+3” entry regime, travellers to Shenzhen from Hong Kong must obtain a valid booking for seven days at a quarantine facility, before undergoing three days of isolation at either their home, a community isolation centre or a hotel.
But the insider added that the daily quota would be restored to 2,000 once the epidemic situation in Shenzhen was under control.
Lawmaker Ben Chan Han-pan, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, warned the reduced number of quarantine facility spaces would hinder the resumption of economic cooperation between the city and Shenzhen.
“The limited quota has already been sought after. People had snapped up quarantine slots, with scalpers touting for quarantine hotel rooms,” he said.
“The slots are not only for Hongkongers wishing to travel to the mainland, but also all those who hope to go to the mainland via Hong Kong. I hope the quota can be resumed soon.”
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Chan attributed the decision to the volatility of the Covid-19 outbreak in Shenzhen, but said it was unlikely to be related to Hong Kong’s epidemic situation.
Legislator Peter Shiu Ka-fai, of the wholesale and retail sector, said the quota reduction was understandable, noting an influx of people would only complicate the situation in Shenzhen.
“I believe the effect will remain limited because it is a short-term measure,” he said. “If people have to go to the mainland urgently, they can go there via Macau.”
The decision came as the Shenzhen’s health commission reported 40 coronavirus cases for Tuesday, comprising 27 confirmed infections and 13 asymptomatic ones. Local authorities had already implemented multiple lockdowns and conducted large-scale contact tracing efforts following a string of infections in August.
The strict curbs are part of the mainland’s “dynamic zero-Covid” strategy, which aims to prevent the spread of the virus by imposing measures such as immediate lockdowns, mass testing, contact tracing and quarantine.
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Authorities in Shenzhen said imported coronavirus infections could have caused the recent surge, but stopped short of saying where the cases had come from originally.
They had earlier noted Hong Kong was the top source for Shenzhen’s imported cases over the past eight months, with the figure totalling 1,064, surpassing the 54 from the United States, the second-highest spot.
Local media in the city last Wednesday said most of the latest cases involved BF.15, a new strain of the Omicron subvariant BA.5.2.1.
Lu Hongzhou, head of the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, a designated Covid-19 treatment centre, had said he would not rule the possibility that the virus mutation had originated from Hong Kong, citing its high similarity with a genome sequence uploaded to a coronavirus database in July by the government there.
Despite a recent surge in coronavirus cases in Hong Kong, city leader John Lee Ka-chiu had earlier announced that mainland authorities have given their preliminary approval for a “reverse quarantine” scheme.
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Under the scheme, travellers from Hong Kong would be allowed to complete quarantine locally in compliance with the mainland’s “7+3” entry regime before crossing the border.
Lee also announced the creation of a high-level task force led by Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki, the city’s No 2 official, who will hold in-depth talks with his mainland counterparts to explore using a makeshift Covid-19 treatment facility at the Lok Ma Chau Loop to provide several thousand rooms for the plan.
But several sources had told the Post that the proposal could prove ineffective, citing the need to comply with the high standards across the border, such as closed-loop arrangements requiring facility staff to remain on-site even when off-duty.
Another source, who is familiar with the situation, said that, even if the scheme was successful, it would only allow an additional 400 to 500 travellers per day to cross into the mainland.
Additional reporting by Ezra Cheung
