Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced today that Macau residents and mainlanders will be able to enter Hong Kong without undergoing quarantine from next Wednesday, September 15.
At her weekly press briefing, Lam said a maximum of 2,000 non-Hong Kong residents from the two places will be allowed to enter the special administrative region each day now that the COVID-19 pandemic situation is stable.
"A 1,000-person quota will be available daily at [both] the Shenzhen Bay Port and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Port," she said.
"We have been talking about this [Come2hk scheme] for a long time but were never able to launch it, as there were often problems, either because of the rebound in cases in Hong Kong, or the mainland's pandemic situation."
Meanwhile, Lam said that from tomorrow, the Return2hk scheme will cover Macau and the whole of the mainland – apart from any "at-risk areas" – to let Hong Kong residents come back quarantine-free.
Since August 5, the scheme has been limited to people returning from Guangdong province.
"Since the Return2hk scheme was implemented in November, more than 200,000 Hong Kong people have come back, and there wasn't one single confirmed infection, so we can be reassured," Lam said.
Lam said those coming back under the Return2hk and Come2hk schemes will have to present a negative COVID-19 test result at border control and be tested regularly after their arrival.
According to worldometers.info, Hong Kong's COVID-19 tally stands at 12,124, including 212 fatalities. Macau's tally stands at 63 with zero fatalities. Hong Kong's population stands at 7.5 million, Macau's at 680,500, according to official statistics. – RTHK, MPD
