The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government decided on Wednesday to launch the "Return2hk" travel scheme which allows Hong Kong residents returning from neighboring Guangdong Province or the Macao SAR to be exempted from a 14-day quarantine on meeting certain requirements since Nov. 23.

Tommy Yuen, Director for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs (Special Duties) of the HKSAR government, told a press conference that since the epidemic situation of COVID-19 in Guangdong Province and the Macao SAR is relatively stable and under control, the HKSAR government decided to launch the scheme as a first step to gradually and orderly open up normal personnel exchanges between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

Under the scheme, returnees from Guangdong or Macao need to apply for a specific quota and meet certain requirements to skip the mandatory quarantine, including possession of a proof of a valid negative nucleic acid test result issued by recognized institutions upon arrival in Hong Kong.

Yuen said that at the beginning, a daily quota of 3,000 would be set at the Shenzhen Bay Port and 2,000 at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Port.