China News Service, January 5th. According to the official WeChat message of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, the Comprehensive Group of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council issued a notice on the 5th on optimizing the measures for personnel exchanges between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao.

According to the notice, in accordance with the relevant spirit of the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the Overall Plan for the Implementation of "Class B and B Management" for Novel Coronavirus Infection (Joint Defense and Joint Control Mechanism Zongfa [2022] No. 144), it is now decided to optimize the measures for personnel exchanges between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao. Effective from January 8, 2023.

Relevant matters are notified as follows:

　　1. Remote detection

　　Persons entering Hong Kong should enter the country with a negative nucleic acid test result for the new coronavirus infection 48 hours before departure, and fill in the test result in the customs health declaration card.

　　Persons entering Macao from Macao, if they have no history of traveling in foreign countries or other overseas regions within 7 days, do not need to enter the country with a negative nucleic acid test result for new coronavirus infection before travel.

　　2. Entry quarantine

　　Nucleic acid testing will no longer be implemented for all personnel entering Hong Kong.

Those who have a normal health declaration and no abnormality in the routine quarantine at the customs port can be released to enter the social area.

People with abnormal health declarations or symptoms such as fever will be tested for antigens by the customs.

If the result is positive, if you are an asymptomatic infection or a mild case without serious underlying diseases, you can take home, home isolation or self-care. In other cases, it is recommended to go to a medical institution for diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.

If the result is negative, the customs will implement routine quarantine in accordance with the "Frontier Health and Quarantine Law of the People's Republic of China" and other laws and regulations.

　　The quarantine measures for people entering from Macau remain unchanged.

　　3. Passenger flights between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macau

　　Resume services for connecting/transiting into the Mainland at Hong Kong and Macau International Airports.

Cancel the passenger load factor restrictions on flights between Hong Kong and Macau to and from the mainland, and gradually increase the number of flights in an orderly manner.

Simplify the handling process of airport inbound flights and improve the efficiency of airport operations.

Strengthen the construction of flight receiving capacity in key cities.

All airlines continue to do a good job in on-board epidemic prevention, and passengers must wear masks when boarding.

　　4. Endorsement

　　The visa application for Mainland residents traveling to Hong Kong for tourism and business purposes will be resumed.

　　5. Port operation

　　Gradually and orderly resume passenger transport at land ports and waterways between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, and provide convenience for entry-exit personnel to quickly clear customs.

　　6. Inbound and outbound tourism

　　According to the epidemic situation in Hong Kong and Macau and the service guarantee capabilities in all aspects, mainland residents' travel to Hong Kong and Macau will be resumed in an orderly manner.