Mainland to drop the quota limits on personnel exchanges with Hong Kong and Macao

The mainland will no longer cap the number of passengers arriving from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions via land ports in Guangdong province, starting from Monday, a circular said. 

Released on Friday by the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism - the country's top COVID-19 control task force - the circular said the aim was to further optimize the measures regarding passenger travels between mainland and the two cities, and to make them more convenient.

Starting from Monday, passengers arriving from the cities via land ports in Guangdong province will no longer need to make reservations and group tours will be resumed, it said.

Inbound passengers do not need to provide negative test proof if they haven't traveled overseas over the previous seven days. If they have recently traveled overseas, they will need to provide negative test proof within 48 hours, the circular said. 

It said that inbound passengers with abnormal health codes, or those with high body temperatures, will be tested by customs officers, and COVID positive passengers can choose to isolate at home or at a hospital in the mainland. 

The circular added that authorities will work to open more ports to handle the influx of passengers and bolster the capacity of passenger transport companies.