HK residents return after 10-month wait

Leung Wing-yat, 70, arrived at the Shenzhen Bay Control Point in Guangdong province on Nov 23, eager to end a 10-month wait.

He was one of the first to take advantage of a newly launched plan allowing Hong Kong residents to return to the city from Guangdong and Macao without undergoing 14 days of quarantine.

A social worker helped Leung, who moved to Shenzhen 10 years ago after he retired, with his online application for one of the 5,000 places available each day under the plan. Leung previously worked at Hong Kong International Airport.

Before the pandemic struck, Leung traveled to Hong Kong four or five times a month to meet friends, see doctors and manage his finances. He usually returned to Shenzhen the same day.

However, restrictions imposed in February as a result of the pandemic brought an immediate plunge in cross-border travel between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

On Feb 8, the Hong Kong government required all arrivals who had visited the mainland in the previous 14 days to undergo two weeks of quarantine on entry. On March 27, the Guangdong authorities said arrivals from outside the mainland, including those from Hong Kong and Macao, must be quarantined for 14 days.

As a result of the restrictions, the round trip between Hong Kong and neighboring Shenzhen was tagged "the longest journey in the world", as it took at least 28 days.

In June, Leung began to keep a close eye on the latest cross-border travel measures each day. He was looking forward to the restrictions being relaxed, as one of his insurance contracts needed to be renewed by end of August and the premium had to be paid in Hong Kong.

His insurance broker told him that because of the pandemic, the company could grant him a threemonth extension, but he still needed to go to Hong Kong to pay the premium by November, or his contract would be invalidated.

Leung said he was initially confident that the restrictions would be relaxed, but he had heard no good news by September. His confidence dropped every day, and as November drew closer, he felt increasingly anxious.

"So, you can imagine how excited I was when the Hong Kong government finally announced the new measure early last month," he said.

On Nov 11, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government announced that the new plan, Return2hk, would take effect on Nov 23, with quota of 5,000 places available every day.

Eligible residents can apply online for a quarantine exemption and choose a return date and border control point. They must also produce a negative nucleic acid test result within three days of arriving in Hong Kong.

Leung completed all the preparatory work, but was still worried that the plan would be postponed, as Hong Kong was experiencing a fourth wave of the pandemic.

The new infections led to the postponement of the much-anticipated travel bubble between the city and Singapore on Nov 22, one day before Return2hk was due to start.

It was later announced that the bubble, which provides for quarantine-free travel between Hong Kong and Singapore, was being postponed to next year, subject to a review later this month.

Leung said: "Fortunately, Return2hk was not postponed. I was very happy about that and I was able to enter Hong Kong smoothly on the morning of Nov 23."

The new plan helped Leung avoid some financial losses. He planned to stay in Hong Kong for two days before returning to Shenzhen.

Although he faced 14 days' isolation in Shenzhen, he said it was good news that, after eight months, the quarantine period had been reduced from 28 days.

He said he hoped the pandemic would end as soon as possible and that travel between Hong Kong and the mainland could return to normal.

According to Hong Kong's Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, around 21,220 people have applied to return under the plan between Nov 23 and Dec 13.

Good start

Fung Wing-cheong, deputy director of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions' Shenzhen consulting service center, said Return2hk is a good start, but it cannot help most cross-border workers and their families.

Most of the people benefiting from the plan are those who need to return to Hong Kong urgently to deal with financial or tax issues, or to see doctors, Fung said, adding that it has not solved the problems faced by many thousands of cross-border families, students and commuters.

According to the Hong Kong Education Bureau, some 27,000 students from the city living on the mainland travel to Hong Kong every school day.

Figures from the city's Census and Statistics Department show that more than 43,000 people commute between Hong Kong and the mainland for work, with 17,000 of them living in the city.

In addition, by the end of 2018,119,800 Hong Kong people age 60 and older were living in Guangdong, some of whom need to return to Hong Kong regularly to see doctors.

Due to the border restrictions, the lives of these people, including their family members, have been seriously disrupted and many have been left in limbo.

Before the restrictions were imposed in February, Jodie Yang, a 29-year-old accountant, commuted between Shenzhen and Hong Kong every workday. She lives in the Luohu district of Shenzhen and works for a company in Hong Kong's New Territories.

Yang said she was lucky, as her employers allowed her to work in the Shenzhen office temporarily. However, in July, she had to go to Hong Kong to renew her work visa, despite having to find short-term rental accommodations and undergo 14 days' quarantine.

Many people have not been as fortunate as Yang.

Fung said his center had received requests for help from Hong Kong residents living in Shenzhen.

"These people are 50 to 60 years old and did part-time work in Hong Kong, but lost their jobs during the pandemic and are not eligible to apply for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance granted by the Hong Kong government, as they cannot provide a valid residential address in the city," he said.

The residents have the option of moving back to Hong Kong, renting apartments and applying for the government's monthly subsidy, Fung said. "But this would cost more and add to their burden, as well as that of the government.

"The optimal solution is that the Hong Kong government should introduce more decisive and stricter measures to thoroughly control the pandemic," Fung added.

In late August, the Hong Kong government said a health code system, allowing quarantine-free travel between Hong Kong and Guangdong or Macao, had been drawn up. However, it has yet to take effect, as Hong Kong has been unable to meet the requirements of the mainland and Macao that it must have had no local COVID-19 infections for 14 consecutive days.

Also in late August, two-way travel between the mainland and Macao resumed. Cross-border travelers no longer have to undergo mandatory quarantine in either jurisdiction, as long as they produce a negative nucleic acid test result and a health code showing no abnormalities.

Mass testing

With Hong Kong witnessing a fourth wave of infections, the prospects of two-way travel between the city and the mainland returning in the short term appear to be diminishing.

As of Monday, there had been 6,975 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, 112 deaths and 5,626 patients had recovered.

In Shenzhen on Nov 27, infectious disease expert Zhong Nanshan said it is vital for Hong Kong to organize citywide testing for COVID-19 in order to identify undetected infections.

Some lawmakers and groups in the city have voiced support for this suggestion.

The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions called for a mandatory mass virus testing program and urged the government to consider introducing a lockdown to contain the outbreak.

Some 97 percent of 18,700 respondents to an online survey conducted by the federation from Nov 24 to Nov 26 said they support such a program, while 90 percent said they wanted a 14-day lockdown.

Lawyer and lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu said the Hong Kong government should realize that a large number of residents want travel between the city and the mainland to resume.

He suggested that to contain the outbreak as soon as possible, the city should introduce mandatory mass testing for the virus and ban people from leaving home before they obtain the results.

If such measures result in zero infections, Hong Kong would have the opportunity to restart cross-border travel next month, Ho added.

However, at a news conference on Nov 25, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the government had no plan to launch a mandatory mass testing program for the virus.

She said such a program was impractical for the city, as related arrangements, including a lockdown, must be put in place together with the testing.

"If I go through a test today, there is no point if I am still allowed to go out, to go to work or to a restaurant," she said.

Lam estimated it would take about four weeks to complete mandatory citywide testing for the virus, adding that it would be hard for the city to survive during this period and people would also find it difficult to comply with a mandatory stay-at-home order.

Plugging loopholes

Leung Chi-chiu, a Hong Kong specialist in respiratory medicine, described the city's pandemic situation as a "wildfire", with infection clusters found in different districts at a range of venues, including dance studios, restaurants and resorts.

Given the city's limited medical resources, it is not possible at present to conduct large-scale, let alone citywide, testing for the virus, he added.

Leung, former chairman of the Hong Kong Medical Association's Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases, said the priority should be using resources to screen high-risk groups and patients with COVID-19 symptoms.

The Hong Kong government currently orders mandatory testing for high-risk groups such as nursing and care home employees and those who have visited venues linked with infection clusters.

Anyone failing to comply with a mandatory testing notice face a fine of HK$2,000 ($258). Those issued a mandatory testing notice faces a fine of HK$2,000 ($258).Violators of the notice are given a testing order, with breaches of this liable to a HK$25,000 fine and six months' imprisonment.

Lam, the chief executive, said the government would "more than double" the fixed penalty of HK$2,000 for violations of anti-virus regulations, including the ban on gatherings, the mandatory wearing of face masks and the compulsory testing order.

Leung said that in addition to stricter social distancing measures and mandatory testing, the authorities should thoroughly review coronavirus prevention and control measures as soon as possible to plug loopholes, adding, "The government should learn a lesson."

He suggested the authorities review the measures taken for arrivals from outside Hong Kong, along with quarantine exemptions.