Chief executive Carrie Lam said on December 7 that mainland epidemic prevention and control experts earlier believed that Hong Kong had the conditions for customs clearance with the mainland, and now it is up to the central government to make a final decision. The SAR government will make intensive preparations for relevant work, including formulating priority groups for customs clearance and assessing whether some ports need to be reopened. Business people are preferred When meeting the media before attending the Executive Council on the same day, Mrs Lam said that customs clearance must be implemented gradually and orderly. Therefore, there is a need to set quotas. People who urgently need to go to the mainland due to official and business affairs will be given priority. These people were also exempt from compulsory quarantine in the past. The relevant policy secretaries will contact them from now on to assist in the allocation of priority groups. She pointed out that since the clearance quota had not been determined, people belonging to the priority group would not necessarily receive the quota; If there is only a small quota per day, they must apply for it themselves. The administration will also strive to reserve some quotas for non-public and business people who still urgently need to go to the mainland to apply. Shenzhen Bay Port will open early As for the border crossings, Mrs Lam said that since most of them had been closed for a long time, the Security Bureau would assess whether it was necessary to reopen some of them in view of the flow of people involved in customs clearance in the future. The government will give priority to the opening of land crossings; Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal, Guangzhou Shenzhen Hong Kong high-speed railway and through train service from Hung Hom station are not applicable for the time being. In addition, the Shenzhen Bay Port will open at 8 a.m. at least two hours in advance to facilitate those who have obtained the quota to travel between Hong Kong and the mainland. Apply for Hong Kong Kang code only after obtaining the quota The Hong Kong health code system will be open to public registered accounts from December 10. In view of the fact that people need to use the HKMA only after they have obtained the customs clearance quota, Mrs Lam called on them not to rush to apply for the relevant account. On the other hand, from December 9, except for the three categories of exempted persons, the public must use the "secure travel" mobile application when entering all catering business premises and scheduled premises regulated by the disease prevention and control (provisions and instructions) (business and premises) regulations. Mrs Lam believes that the community should widely use the "ease of travel" program so that the Hong Kong Kang code system can have a detailed whereabouts record of users. She also mentioned that the Omicron mutant virus strain had spread all over the world, but customs clearance between Hong Kong and the mainland had not been affected. Our stringent import prevention measures have also been effective, successfully preventing four confirmed cases involving the mutant virus strain from flowing into the community. As of December 6, the first dose vaccination rate of the new crown vaccine in Hong Kong was about 71%. Mrs Lam stressed the need to continue to improve the vaccination rate in Hong Kong, otherwise it would hinder the expansion of customs clearance in the future.