No PCR test upon entry for travelers from Hong Kong

Imaginechina

The on-arrival nucleic acid testing for inbound travelers from Hong Kong will be canceled from January 8 as part of the measures to optimize travel between the Chinese mainland and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

However, they are still required to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test 48 hours before departure and report the result in the health declaration to China customs.

Travelers from Macau are exempt from the PCR test before departure if they have not traveled abroad within a week, the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19 announced on Thursday.

Following the downgrading of COVID-19 to Category B, the measures for traveling between the mainland and Hong Kong/Macau will be optimized from Sunday, the mechanism said.

Inbound travelers from Hong Kong can move freely if their health declaration and customs inspections have no abnormality.

Travelers with fever should take an antigen test on site and those with a positive result can choose home quarantine or go to hospital.

Meanwhile, flight operations between the mainland and Hong Kong/Macau will be fully restored.

The flight transfer services at Hong Kong and Macau airports will be resumed, while the load factor limitation will be scrapped, the mechanism announced.

Passengers are still required to wear masks in the cabin and follow other in-flight COVID-19 prevention measures.

Passport applications from mainland citizens for tourism and business purposes to Hong Kong will be restored, while tourism to Hong Kong and Macau will also be resumed gradually.