Health officials barred non-residents from Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe starting from midnight. City residents arriving from those countries must quarantine for three weeks, the government announced.

Sources close to the Shenzhen meeting said authorities were given the green light to work out the final details for resuming quarantine-free travel – initially limited to Guangdong province – though specifics, including a launch date, had yet to be made public.

“The Hong Kong side will have to do it fast if the border is to reopen on a small scale next month,” a source said on Friday. “The next focus will be on the health code and beginning drills at border-crossing facilities, as they have been closed for a long time.”

Another insider, who was familiar with the progress on the city’s new health code, said the two sides would conduct a dry run of border procedures next week, both to test the code and double check operations at some crossings.

“The Guangdong and Hong Kong teams are both working under a very tight schedule. But there is a good commitment from both sides to speed up the border opening process,” the insider said.

City health authorities, meanwhile, are planning to increase testing for airport workers who come into frequent contact with travellers and aircrews from once every three days to every two days.

Similarly, aircrew movement during their mandatory medical surveillance period – which can range from 14 to 21 days – will also be further restricted.

As of Thursday, crew on cargo flights and those operating “turnaround” passenger flights – meaning they do not leave the plane at their destination – are required to undergo 14 days of medical surveillance and log every place they visit.

The government has also advised aircrew to avoid unnecessary social contact and said they “must avoid” activities without masks in public places other than eating, drinking and outdoor exercise.

Crews must also conduct daily rapid antigen testing for the first seven days after returning to the city and take separate PCR tests spread across 19 days.

But those screenings must now be done either at home or at designated locations near where they live.

“Airlines will be asked to arrange testing for aircrews that minimises their exposure in the community when they are under surveillance,” the source explained.

Separately, Hong Kong health officials confirmed four new coronavirus infections on Friday, all imported and involving arrivals from Singapore, Finland and Qatar. The city’s case tally now stands at 12,421, with 213 related deaths.

On Thursday, Lee laid out five key areas in which the city needed to improve its pandemic-control measures, including the introduction of a Hong Kong Health Code app that would allow for the exchange of travellers’ names and Covid-19 status with mainland authorities.

Other areas of concern identified were border checkpoint arrangements, manpower deployment, the minimisation of high-risk groups’ chances of infection and the creation of a new cross-border cooperation mechanism.

“[Now that the] Shenzhen meeting has reached an important milestone, the next step is for us to do the preparatory work for travel to resume,” she said, adding the Innovation and Technology Bureau would announce details about the health code next week.

Lam said authorities would also map out the precise conditions Hong Kong travellers needed to meet to be exempted from 14-day quarantine and which border control points would be used.

Hong Kong records its first case of new Covid-19 variant

The insider, meanwhile, said the National Health Commission was closely monitoring the latest mainland coronavirus outbreak and assessing the risk of the new B. 1.1.529 variant that was recently identified in two arrivals to the city.

Fears over the new variant have rattled markets around the world, with Japan’s Nikkei slipping 2.5 per cent, futures indexes in the US and Europe dropping between 0.9 and 1.4 per cent, and currencies in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa all taking hits.

However, neither the mainland outbreak nor the new variant were considered threats to the border reopening plan at this point.

The insider added that a mainland delegation that had recently visited Hong Kong to inspect its pandemic-control measures had been impressed with what they had seen.

“Hong Kong people have good hygiene habits, they wear masks everywhere they go and sanitise their hands frequently,” the insider said.

“One expert said it was amazing to see them use tissues or pens to press lift buttons, and use various gears like the face shields and eyes protectors, suggesting most Hong Kong residents have very good awareness about what to do to combat the virus.”

Additional reporting by Sammy Heung