Coronavirus: Hong Kong authorities set to unveil health code system, paving way for mainland China border reopening
- Government will reveal details of scheme for cross-border travellers in a press conference on Thursday
- City was told at meeting last week it had met ‘basic requirements’ for border reopening, with only a few obstacles remaining including health code app.
Sources said the government would reveal details of the scheme, which would allow travellers to cross the border to Guangdong province and Macau without needing to undergo quarantine.
The development comes after a meeting with mainland officials last week, during which the city was told it had met the “basic requirements” for border reopening, with only a few obstacles remaining, such as a health code app and further tightening of quarantine rules for aircrew.
The move will bring the city more in line with mainland travel rules, but Hong Kong’s health code system is not expected to have a movement-tracking function, unlike the version across the border because of residents’ privacy concerns.
A source said testing earlier this week of conversions of the Hong Kong health code to the Guangdong and Macau versions – needed when travellers cross from one jurisdiction to another – had been “very successful”, and a dry run of border openings had also been conducted and went smoothly.
Francis Fong Po-kiu, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said he had learned from government and industry sources that authorities would not require all residents to integrate the existing “Leave Home Safe” risk-exposure app with the one for health codes, only travellers to the mainland would have to do so.
A new “board” would be added to an updated version of Leave Home Safe, taking users to the Hong Kong health code website landing page, according to Fong’s understanding of the developments.