People leave the Regal Airport Hotel at Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong on November 26, 2021, where a new Covid-19 variant deemed a 'major threat' was detected in a traveller from South Africa and who has since passed it on to a local man whilst in quarantine. Photo: AFP

Amid eager anticipation, online registration in the real-name system for the Hong Kong health code will start on December 10, officials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) told a press conference on Thursday.

Officials of the Innovation and Technology Bureau of the HKSAR said that the health code conversion system will open later. Under that system, residents from the HKSAR going to South China's Guangdong Province or the Macao SAR can convert their COVID-19 testing results saved in the Hong Kong health code to Guangdong's "Yuekang code," media reported.

To register a health code account, residents must use their real names and provide at least five items of information such as their addresses and telephone numbers, according to the press conference. They are requested to provide certificates of the registered information in the online system.

After registration, users need to upload their travel history recorded in Hong Kong's "Leave Home Safe" mobile app onto the "Hong Kong health code" app.

An official said at the press conference that the app can determine the infection risk level of users via their address and travel history, and give the users green (low-risk), yellow (medium-risk) or red (high-risk) codes.

Residents who do not need to pass through the border can decide whether to apply for a Hong Kong health code, said officials.

In another development, local media outlet hk.01 claimed on Thursday that Beijing has already given the go-ahead for the border reopening plan, which is expected to be implemented before Christmas. The report said this would be a "New Year gift" for people who have yearned for free travel across the Chinese mainland and HKSAR after nearly a two-year suspension of normal cross-border movements since the COVID-19 outbreak.

People in Hong Kong are eagerly looking forward to resuming quarantine-free travel to the mainland and reuniting with their mainland relatives and friends.

Jane Cheung, a youngster born on the mainland who now lives in Hong Kong, expressed excitement over the upcoming border reopening, saying that she plans to take a business trip to the mainland at that time.

Cheung said she hasn't been able to return home for about 18 months because of the border suspension.