(To watch the video with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Government said arrival figures to Hong Kong decreased significantly since services at several boundary control points were suspended.

Secretary for Security John Lee shared the decline in figures during a press conference today.

He said the Government introduced measures starting on January 30 to suspend the service of six control points, and thereafter, on February 4, another four control points.

“We can see the arrival figures have been dropping. And on February 5, the total number of people arriving in Hong Kong was 58,800 roughly. That is a drop of 75% compared with the figure before the introduction of the measures.

“For Hong Kong people arriving, the figure is a drop of 77%, Mainland visitors is a drop of 68%, and other visitors is a drop of 50%.”

Mr Lee explained why yesterday was the single day the Government witnessed an increase in arrival numbers since the introduction of the measures.

“It is not unexpected because tomorrow we will be implementing the mandatory quarantine for 14 days. And it is understandable that a lot of people either left Hong Kong, left the Mainland to come back to Hong Kong, or they travelled across to sort out some of the businesses for their own arrangement.

“The key really is on risk management in regard to all of these human movements across the boundary.”