Flags displayed at Tian'anmen Square and atop the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing. Photo: VCG

Hong Kong's deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), who are expected to attend the postponed annual two sessions in late May, will first go to Shenzhen to undergo novel coronavirus nucleic acid tests before flying to Beijing, sources told the Global Times Wednesday.

The deputies and members will head to the Kylin Villa in Shenzhen on May 19, and those who test negative will take a flight to Beijing the next day to attend the meetings.

Deputies and members are required to report their history of epidemic diseases and fill in health forms which will be handed over when they are in Beijing.

The third plenary session of the 13th NPC will convene on May 22 in Beijing. The third plenary session of the 13th CPPCC will open on May 21 and last six and a half days. 

According to Hong Kong media reports, Hong Kong deputies to the NPC held a meeting at the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong on Tuesday. 

A closed-loop management system will apply due to the coronavirus situation. Deputies to the NPC will stay in the Beijing Hotel, which is close to the Great Hall of the People, where some of the meetings will be held. Their activities will be confined to the two locations and no visiting will be allowed.

They are expected to return to Hong Kong on May 28. 

So far, the deputies and members have not received clear notifications from the Hong Kong government if they will be given an exemption for the 14-day compulsory quarantine when they return to Hong Kong. A Hong Kong CPPCC member told the Global Times on condition of anonymity that the Hong Kong government may want to wait until mid-May to observe the coronavirus situation and the political climate in Hong Kong before making a decision.

Wu Zhiliang, a CPPCC member from Macao, told the Global Times Wednesday that Macao's NPC deputies and CPPCC members will undergo nucleic acid tests on May 19 before flying directly to Beijing the next day.

An official from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region government told the Global Times Wednesday that the region's opening day, a routine practice at the two sessions in which each provincial government gives their work report, may be canceled this year due to the virus.