Photo: CFP

More than 83,000 people have submitted applications for the Hong Kong Health Code in the first few hours of registration on Friday, delivering hope for cross-border commuters and businesspeople who are waiting for the border between the special administrative region and mainland to reopen soon.

Around 23,600 people have submitted their applications online by 10 am and as of 1pm, this number increased to nearly 83,000, since the registration opened at 9 am, Secretary for Innovation and Technology of the Hong Kong SAR government, Alfred Sit Wing-hang, said on Friday. 

The release of the Hong Kong Health Code paves the way for the border reopening between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, and it is very promising news for people who have families or work across the city and mainland, Jin Dongyan, a biomedical professor at the University of Hong Kong, told the Global Times on Friday.

Among those joining the registration scramble on Friday morning are people engaging in cross-border businesses, the Global Times learned. 

Sisley Cheng, deputy president of Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in Shenzhen's Qianhai told the Global Times earlier that entrepreneurs from both sides are hoping for the border to quickly reopen. The closure of the border between the mainland and HKSAR has been a blow to the Hong Kong economy and has caused many inconveniences in work, life and education. 

Qishan, a high school student from Foshan in Guangdong Province studying in Hong Kong is thrilled to learn that the Hong Kong Health Code has finally opened for registration. "I am so happy that Hong Kong has finally taken a step toward border reopening," she said. 

Qishan hasn't returned to Foshan and Guangzhou on the mainland, where many relatives live, for more than two years since the epidemic first began. She will also apply for the health code and hopes to return home soon. 

The Hong Kong Health Code adopts real-name registration. Applicants are required to register personal information such as name, identity document number and date of issue, contact telephone number, residential address and upload a Hong Kong residential address proof for verification. The health code comes in three colors - red, yellow and green and the standard to determine the color of the code is in line with that of the Yuekang Health Code issued by Guangdong. 

Confirmed cases, suspected cases and close contacts and those who were discharged from hospital within less than 14 days will be issued with a red code. Those who have visited or resided in high-risk areas in the past 21 days, or arrived in Hong Kong less than 21 days prior will be issued a yellow code. The rest will be given green code, making them exempt from quarantine when entering the mainland. 

The government had said the sequence of registering for the code has nothing to do with the quotas for future border crossing. When the border reopens, the health code can be mutually recognized by the mainland and Macao, used as one of the mandatory entry tickets when going to the mainland. 

To receive mutual recognition with that of the mainland or Macao, applicants should upload their vaccination record on their health code; that is, vaccination is another prerequisite to crossing the border.

The SAR government earlier said that there would be a quota system at the beginning of customs clearance, priority would be given to government workers, businesspeople, or it would be decided on a first-come-first-served basis or by lottery. The daily quota will be increased from 1,000 to 10,000, Hong Kong media reports said. 

Some reports said quarantine-free travel to the mainland is expected to launch around December 19 or December 24. The health code comes after an epidemic prevention and control meeting by the two sides in November, which confirmed that Hong Kong has basically fulfilled the requirements to resume quarantine-free travel.

On whether the health code will track the travel history of applicants, Alfred told reporters on Friday that the health code will not track users and data will be stored in Hong Kong, only when citizens apply for a border crossing, the data will be transferred to the mainland or Macao, but it will only be used as an entry ticket, not to track users.

Meanwhile, Alfred revealed that the SAR government is communicating with countries like Japan and Thailand for mutual recognition, using the Hong Kong Health Code as a cross-border tool.  

Jin said conditions for health code mutual recognition with other countries is not ripe because different countries adopt different anti-epidemic routes, and the epidemic is still rampant overseas. If the Hong Kong Health Code could be used to travel to Japan and Thailand, so is the health code in the mainland. 

Photo: CFP

More than 83,000 people have submitted applications for the Hong Kong Health Code in the first few hours of registration on Friday, delivering hope for cross-border commuters and businesspeople who are waiting for the border between the special administrative region and mainland to reopen soon.

Around 23,600 people have submitted their applications online by 10 am and as of 1pm, this number increased to nearly 83,000, since the registration opened at 9 am, Secretary for Innovation and Technology of the Hong Kong SAR government, Alfred Sit Wing-hang, said on Friday. 

The release of the Hong Kong Health Code paves the way for the border reopening between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, and it is very promising news for people who have families or work across the city and mainland, Jin Dongyan, a biomedical professor at the University of Hong Kong, told the Global Times on Friday.

Among those joining the registration scramble on Friday morning are people engaging in cross-border businesses, the Global Times learned. 

Sisley Cheng, deputy president of Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in Shenzhen's Qianhai told the Global Times earlier that entrepreneurs from both sides are hoping for the border to quickly reopen. The closure of the border between the mainland and HKSAR has been a blow to the Hong Kong economy and has caused many inconveniences in work, life and education. 

Qishan, a high school student from Foshan in Guangdong Province studying in Hong Kong is thrilled to learn that the Hong Kong Health Code has finally opened for registration. "I am so happy that Hong Kong has finally taken a step toward border reopening," she said. 

Qishan hasn't returned to Foshan and Guangzhou on the mainland, where many relatives live, for more than two years since the epidemic first began. She will also apply for the health code and hopes to return home soon. 

The Hong Kong Health Code adopts real-name registration. Applicants are required to register personal information such as name, identity document number and date of issue, contact telephone number, residential address and upload a Hong Kong residential address proof for verification. The health code comes in three colors - red, yellow and green and the standard to determine the color of the code is in line with that of the Yuekang Health Code issued by Guangdong. 

Confirmed cases, suspected cases and close contacts and those who were discharged from hospital within less than 14 days will be issued with a red code. Those who have visited or resided in high-risk areas in the past 21 days, or arrived in Hong Kong less than 21 days prior will be issued a yellow code. The rest will be given green code, making them exempt from quarantine when entering the mainland. 

The government had said the sequence of registering for the code has nothing to do with the quotas for future border crossing. When the border reopens, the health code can be mutually recognized by the mainland and Macao, used as one of the mandatory entry tickets when going to the mainland. 

To receive mutual recognition with that of the mainland or Macao, applicants should upload their vaccination record on their health code; that is, vaccination is another prerequisite to crossing the border.

The SAR government earlier said that there would be a quota system at the beginning of customs clearance, priority would be given to government workers, businesspeople, or it would be decided on a first-come-first-served basis or by lottery. The daily quota will be increased from 1,000 to 10,000, Hong Kong media reports said. 

Some reports said quarantine-free travel to the mainland is expected to launch around December 19 or December 24. The health code comes after an epidemic prevention and control meeting by the two sides in November, which confirmed that Hong Kong has basically fulfilled the requirements to resume quarantine-free travel.

On whether the health code will track the travel history of applicants, Alfred told reporters on Friday that the health code will not track users and data will be stored in Hong Kong, only when citizens apply for a border crossing, the data will be transferred to the mainland or Macao, but it will only be used as an entry ticket, not to track users.

Meanwhile, Alfred revealed that the SAR government is communicating with countries like Japan and Thailand for mutual recognition, using the Hong Kong Health Code as a cross-border tool.  

Jin said conditions for health code mutual recognition with other countries is not ripe because different countries adopt different anti-epidemic routes, and the epidemic is still rampant overseas. If the Hong Kong Health Code could be used to travel to Japan and Thailand, so is the health code in the mainland.