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Hong Kong and China move closer to partial border reopening
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ong Kong and Chinese authorities said a meeting on Thursday moved them closer to partially reopening the border between them, as the two governments dig their heels in as among the last in the world pursuing a zero-COVID-19 strategy.
Meanwhile, a handful of local COVID-19 cases in eastern parts of China have prompted Shanghai city to limit tourism activities and a nearby city to cut public transportation services, as China insists on zero tolerance against letting clusters spread.
Global financial hub Hong Kong has followed Beijing's lead to implement some of the strictest travel restrictions in the world, hoping that would convince China, its main source of economic growth, to allow some cross-border movement.
Delegations from the two governments met in the tech hub of Shenzhen on Thursday.
"Good progress was made in the meeting on exploring the resumption of quarantine-free travel between the mainland and Hong Kong in a gradual and orderly manner," the former British colony's government said in a statement.
China's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office said in a separate statement the epidemic situation in Hong Kong was "stable and controllable."
Cross-border travel is expected to resume next month, subject to a limited quota, the South China Morning Post reported, citing two unnamed sources from the mainland.
Near term, Hong Kong has to launch its own version of China's "Health Code" mobile tracing app and prepare boundary control points for the opening, the semiautonomous city's government said.
Despite barely any local cases this year and an environment virtually free of COVID-19, Hong Kong has imposed mandatory hotel quarantine of up to 21 days for arrivals from most countries at the travelers' cost.
International business lobby groups have warned that Hong Kong could lose talent and investment, as well as competitive ground to rival finance hubs such as Singapore, unless it relaxes its travel restrictions.
The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong resigned, saying she could not appeal to authorities to ease COVID-19 restrictions at the same time as having to undergo quarantine herself.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive Jamie Dimon said the city's COVID-19 policy was making it tougher to retain staff.
Eastern front
Shanghai city detected three domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases with confirmed symptoms for Thursday, official data from the National Health Commission (NHC) showed on Friday.
The last local symptomatic infection in Shanghai was reported in August.
The new infections came just days after China contained its biggest outbreak caused by the Delta variant, suggesting the growing challenge in efforts to eliminate local clusters.
National health officials had said earlier this month that China's aim is not to remain at zero infections, but to make sure local clusters can be detected and contained as quickly as possible.
Shanghai has suspended travel agencies from organizing tourism that involves trips between the city and other province-level regions.
The financial hub of 24.9 million residents has sealed up a few residential compounds deemed of higher infection risk, and two local hospitals have halted some face-to-face services to comply with COVID-19 control.
Xuzhou city in the eastern Jiangsu province, about a 9 hour-drive from Shanghai, reported one locally transmitted asymptomatic carrier on Thursday who was a close contact of a Shanghai resident found positive.
China counts asymptomatic cases separately.
The city of 9.1 million people has suspended its three subway lines, cut some citywide as well as long-distance bus services and closed a few entrances on highways linking it and surrounding areas.
It advised residents not to leave town for unnecessary reasons, and those who have to travel must show proof of a negative test result within 48 hours before departure.
Xuzhou demanded suspensions of larger face-to-face public activities including concerts, sporting events and exhibitions. It also required all schools to halt their offline classes between Friday and Sunday, and asked universities to tighten management on students' requests to leave campus.
Hangzhou city in the eastern Zhejiang province also detected two local asymptomatic infections for Nov. 25, NHC data showed.
As of Nov. 25, mainland China had reported 98,583 confirmed cases with symptoms, including both local ones and those arriving from abroad. The total death toll remained unchanged at 4,636.
