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Some 9.03 million Hong Kong residents and visitors are expected to pass through border control points during Ching Ming and Easter from tomorrow to April 10.
That compares with 10.7 million in 2019 4.67 million during the Ching Ming holiday and 6.1 million during Easter before cross-border travel was suspended due to Covid.
On the first day of the Easter holiday in 2019, border control points recorded up to 1.2 million crossers, including more than 310,000 at Lo Wu.
Immigration officers said yesterday 83.5 percent of the 9.03 million travellers 7.54 million people will go through land border control points this time around. Lo Wu will be the busiest with around 2.2 million people for a daily average of about 220,000.
Lok Ma Chau and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge control point will also see heavy traffic, with 147,000 and 138,000 passengers crossings daily.
The number of outbound and inbound passengers using land boundary control points will be higher on April 7 and April 10, with around 522,000 and 519,000 respectively.
Meanwhile, the department’s Wan Chai office will launch special service days on April 5 and April 7 for identity card applications, including new smart IDs.
Since the gradual resumption of travel many Hongkongers outside the SAR have returned for applications, resulting in a high demand for appointments, and more will return during the Easter holiday. People can make appointments for the two days starting on Monday.
And from today residents can complete registrations of births or deaths entirely online and receive certificates by post. That can be done if either parent of a newborn is a permanent resident.
The statutory time limit for registration of deaths from natural causes has also been extended from 24 hours to 14 days.
Principal immigration officer Yeung Suk-yee said many people had failed to complete death registrations within 24 hours in the past because they could not obtain a medical certificate of the cause of death quickly and also had to handle funeral arrangements. She said 99 percent of death cases can be registered within the required 14-day period after the extension.
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Category: Hong Kong
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