HONG KONG/BEJING, Jan. 15 (Portal) – China on Sunday resumed bullet train service between Hong Kong and the mainland for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as it eases travel restrictions after Beijing lifted quarantine arrivals a week earlier.
The reopening comes amid a massive wave of infections across the country and a day after authorities said nearly 60,000 people with COVID had died in hospital following an abrupt reversal in “zero-COVID” policy following historic protests last month.
Despite the infections, some passengers expressed excitement and relief at being able to more easily return to their hometowns in time for the upcoming Lunar New Year.
“The resumption of high-speed rail has made it very convenient for us and brought us closer to home,” said Mang Lee, 33, who passed through border controls among dozens at Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Station before boarding the trains.
“For the past three years, it has not been easy at all to enter China due to the pandemic,” added Mang, who is originally from the southern city of Guangzhou. “I haven’t been able to go home for a long time.”
EASIER MOON NEW YEAR TRAVEL
A surge in travel ahead of the holiday celebrations, due to begin January 21, when hundreds of millions of people return home from cities to small towns and rural areas, has stoked concerns about more infections.
Saturday’s updated death toll was a huge increase from previous figures following global criticism of China’s coronavirus data. The move was welcomed by the World Health Organization, although the panel called for more detailed data.
But the figure still falls short of predictions by international health experts, who have said China could have more than a million COVID-related deaths this year.
Operations at West Kowloon Railway Station in the global financial hub went smoothly, with an influx of about 1,400 passengers by 10 a.m., said Cheung Chi-keung, head of cross-border operations at operator MTR Corp (0066.HK).
Tickets for almost all trains were sold out on Sunday, according to an advertisement at the station, a Portal witness said.
The reopening will initially only apply to short-distance journeys, MTR chairman Rex Auyeung told reporters at the station, but it wasn’t immediately clear when long-distance journeys would resume.
In another sign of the revival of transport links, visitors to the nearby Macau gaming hub surpassed 55,000 on Saturday, the highest daily arrivals since the pandemic began, the government said on its website.
The mainland contributed 44,025, including just over 10,000 from Hong Kong, a statement said.
The data promises a boost for the tourism-centric economy, which has been rocked by zero-COVID measures so far, in line with a trend of increasing daily visitor numbers.
As many in China scramble to secure COVID-19 drugs after reports of widespread hospital shortages, Hong Kong customs last week seized 380 boxes of suspected smuggled COVID drugs worth an estimated HK$500,000 ($64,000), the authorities said local government.
The items were found in two locations, one at the international airport in an air parcel that arrived from India on January 11 and another on January 14 at the home of a 40-year-old man.
The man and a 34-year-old woman were arrested as suspects, the government added in its statement on Sunday.
In particular, Pfizer-made COVID drug Paxlovid has met with high demand.
($1.8092 Hong Kong Dollars)
Reporting by Joyce Zhou and Donny Kwok in Hong Kong and Martin Quin Pollard and Shuyan Wang in Beijing; Adaptation by Clarence Fernandez
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