China, Hong Kong scrap cross-border travel quota, COVID test
HONG KONG -
Travel between Hong Kong and China will no longer require COVID-19 PCR tests nor be held to a daily limit, authorities announced Friday, as both places seek to drive economic growth.
Hong Kong's tourism industry has suffered since 2019 after months of political strife that at times turned into violent clashes between protesters and police, as well as harsh entry restrictions implemented during the pandemic.
"From Monday, there will be a full resumption of travel between Hong Kong and the mainland," Hong Kong leader John Lee said Friday at a news briefing.
Lee said quotas for travellers will be scrapped and all boundary checkpoints will reopen next week.
The announcement came a day after Lee unveiled a tourism campaign aimed at attracting travellers to Hong Kong that includes 500,000 free air tickets for tourists to visit the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
China had already eased travel restrictions with Hong Kong on Jan. 8, dropping a mandatory quarantine period required for travellers entering the mainland. However, the number of travellers entering the mainland from Hong Kong via land checkpoints was limited to 50,000 a day.
From Feb. 6, most travellers crossing the border between mainland China and Hong Kong will no longer need to present a negative PCR test for COVID-19 prior to travel. Only those who have travelled overseas within the past seven days would be required to produce their negative PCR result, Hong Kong and Chinese authorities said Friday.
Both Hong Kong and mainland China were among the last holdouts globally to keep entry restrictions including mandatory quarantine periods, even as the rest of the world began reopening their borders in 2022.
Hong Kong -- a business hub reputed as a popular city for tourists -- has seen its tourism industry battered over the past three years.
In spite of China's easing of entry restrictions last month, Hong Kong's tourism industry has a long road to recovery.
In 2022, nearly 605,000 visitors came to Hong Kong -- up sixfold from the year before, but about 90% less than 2019 before the pandemic, which saw 55.9 million arrivals.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Han Dong resigns from Liberal caucus amid foreign interference allegations
Han Dong has announced he will be sitting as an independent MP after being the subject of foreign interference allegations.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper says Canada needs a 'Conservative renaissance'
Canada needs a 'Conservative renaissance,' former prime minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday, but he cautioned that Pierre Poilievre should wait until an election before telling Canadians how he might run the country.
Biden is coming to Canada: Here's what we know about his visit
U.S. President Joe Biden is coming to Canada Thursday evening, kicking off his short but long-awaited overnight official visit to Canada. Here's what CTV News has confirmed about what will be on the agenda, and what key players are saying about the upcoming visit.
Canada's relationship with the U.S. needed rebuilding post-Trump says Ambassador Hillman
Canada's Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman says the country’s relationship with its American counterparts required rebuilding after the Trump administration.
WeightWatchers appears set to close dozens of Canadian locations Sunday
WW International appears set to close dozens of its roughly 118 WeightWatchers locations across Canada on March 26 in what may be part of a restructuring strategy.
Police find 2 more bodies at site of Old Montreal fire; first victim identified
The death toll from last week's massive fire in Old Montreal has risen to four, Montreal police confirmed. Julien Levesque, a police spokesperson, said Wednesday evening that two more bodies were retrieved from the historic building that went up in flames last Thursday.
Top 4 quirky consumer complaints received in 2022: BBB
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) says it receives tens of thousands of complaints from consumers across Canada each year, but once in a while a "quirky" one will take them by surprise.
What are the predictions for Canada's real estate market this spring?
The Canadian real estate market has been sluggish since last year, when prospective buyers started putting off plans to purchase homes as the Bank of Canada aggressively hiked interest rates eight consecutive times. But realtors see many edging toward a purchase once more.
More than half of Canadians OK with telling lies to spare others’ feelings: Poll
According to a new poll conducted by Research Co., more than half of Canadians surveyed said it is permissible to lie to spare someone’s feelings.
Canada
-
Top 4 quirky consumer complaints received in 2022: BBB
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) says it receives tens of thousands of complaints from consumers across Canada each year, but once in a while a "quirky" one will take them by surprise.
-
More than half of Canadians OK with telling lies to spare others’ feelings: Poll
According to a new poll conducted by Research Co., more than half of Canadians surveyed said it is permissible to lie to spare someone’s feelings.
-
WeightWatchers appears set to close dozens of Canadian locations Sunday
WW International appears set to close dozens of its roughly 118 WeightWatchers locations across Canada on March 26 in what may be part of a restructuring strategy.
-
Police find 2 more bodies at site of Old Montreal fire; first victim identified
The death toll from last week's massive fire in Old Montreal has risen to four, Montreal police confirmed. Julien Levesque, a police spokesperson, said Wednesday evening that two more bodies were retrieved from the historic building that went up in flames last Thursday.
-
What are the predictions for Canada's real estate market this spring?
The Canadian real estate market has been sluggish since last year, when prospective buyers started putting off plans to purchase homes as the Bank of Canada aggressively hiked interest rates eight consecutive times. But realtors see many edging toward a purchase once more.
-
Biden is coming to Canada: Here's what we know about his visit
U.S. President Joe Biden is coming to Canada Thursday evening, kicking off his short but long-awaited overnight official visit to Canada. Here's what CTV News has confirmed about what will be on the agenda, and what key players are saying about the upcoming visit.
World
-
Appeals court sides with Justice Dept. in Trump lawyer fight
A federal appeals court on Wednesday directed a lawyer for Donald Trump to turn over to prosecutors documents in the investigation into the former president's retention of classified documents at his Florida estate.
-
Ex-women's prison warden gets 6 years for inmate sex abuse
The former warden of an abuse-plagued federal women's prison in the San Francisco Bay Area was sentenced Wednesday to 70 months in prison for sexually abusing incarcerated women.
-
Israeli army admits to covert influence campaign in Gaza war
Days into Israel's devastating war with Gaza militants in 2021, the Israeli army began deploying keyboard warriors to a second front: a covert social media operation to praise the military's bombing campaign in the coastal enclave.
-
India police seek Sikh leader Amritpal Singh, arrest separatist supporters
Indian police are searching for a separatist leader who has revived calls for an independent Sikh homeland, stirring fears of violence in northwestern Punjab state where there's a history of bloody insurgency.
-
119K people hurt by riot-control weapons since 2015: report
More than 119,000 people have been injured by tear gas and other chemical irritants around the world since 2015 and some 2,000 suffered injuries from 'less lethal' impact projectiles, according to a report released Wednesday.
-
Uganda passes bill banning identifying as LGBTQ2S+
Uganda's parliament on Tuesday passed a law that criminalizes identifying as LGBTQ2S+, handing authorities broad powers to target Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence.
Politics
-
Biden is coming to Canada: Here's what we know about his visit
U.S. President Joe Biden is coming to Canada Thursday evening, kicking off his short but long-awaited overnight official visit to Canada. Here's what CTV News has confirmed about what will be on the agenda, and what key players are saying about the upcoming visit.
-
Canada's relationship with the U.S. needed rebuilding post-Trump says Ambassador Hillman
Canada's Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman says the country’s relationship with its American counterparts required rebuilding after the Trump administration.
-
Former prime minister Stephen Harper says Canada needs a 'Conservative renaissance'
Canada needs a 'Conservative renaissance,' former prime minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday, but he cautioned that Pierre Poilievre should wait until an election before telling Canadians how he might run the country.
Health
-
WeightWatchers appears set to close dozens of Canadian locations Sunday
WW International appears set to close dozens of its roughly 118 WeightWatchers locations across Canada on March 26 in what may be part of a restructuring strategy.
-
Canada's stockpile of ventilators up from 500 to 27,000 after push to procure them
Canada's race to procure ventilators for COVID-19 patients in the early days of the pandemic had researchers, scientists, industry and a notable astrophysicist working 'night and day' to design machines that could be quickly manufactured domestically.
-
Calgary doctor performs spine surgery on conscious patient
Last month, Dr. Michael Yang, a spine surgeon at Foothills Medical Centre, performed a discectomy to remove the damaged part of a herniated disc in the spine, on a patient who was wide awake.
Sci-Tech
-
5 planets will align in an arc across the night sky next week
Sky-gazers will be treated to a parade of planets near the end of month when Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Mars will appear together in the night sky.
-
Asteroid discovery suggests ingredients for life on Earth came from space
Two organic compounds essential for living organisms have been found in samples retrieved from the asteroid Ryugu, buttressing the notion that some ingredients crucial for the advent of life arrived on Earth aboard rocks from space billions of years ago.
-
Why TikTok's security risks keep raising fears
The battle between the U.S. and China over TikTok comes into full view on Thursday when the social media platform's CEO testifies before Congressional lawmakers.
Entertainment
-
Dick Van Dyke suffers 'minor injuries' in Malibu car crash
Veteran actor Dick Van Dyke has suffered minor injuries after his car was involved in a collision in Malibu, California, police in the city have confirmed.
-
Gisele Bundchen is opening up about the end of her marriage to Tom Brady
Gisele Bundchen is opening up about the end of her marriage to Tom Brady, comparing it to a 'death and a rebirth.'
-
Tekashi 6ix9ine injured in assault at Florida gym
Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, whose testimony against his own gang helped convict two high-ranking members, was assaulted by several people at a gym in Florida, officials said Wednesday.
Business
-
U.S. SEC sues Jake Paul, Lindsay Lohan, Soulja Boy, other celebrities over crypto sales
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday sued Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, accusing him and several celebrities of illegally selling crypto securities and scheming to artificially inflate trading volume in crypto assets.
-
What are the predictions for Canada's real estate market this spring?
The Canadian real estate market has been sluggish since last year, when prospective buyers started putting off plans to purchase homes as the Bank of Canada aggressively hiked interest rates eight consecutive times. But realtors see many edging toward a purchase once more.
-
Liberals introduce legislation to create a corporate ownership registry
The federal Liberals are moving ahead with plans to create an ownership registry after promising to increase transparency about who owns and controls corporations.
Lifestyle
-
This artist makes his own ink from nature, here's how
Toronto business owner Jason Logan makes ink from natural products that he forages himself -- a practice that is centuries old.
-
Ai Weiwei recreates Monet's water lilies using 650,000 Lego pieces
When Ai Weiwei opens his new show in April, visitors will encounter a familiar scene at London's Design Museum: Claude Monet's famed water lilies. But the monumental recreation is made from the studs of Lego bricks — a whopping 650,000 of them.
-
New Brunswick man shares unlikely, heartwarming friendship with squirrel
An animal rescue situation has turned into a unique friendship for a New Brunswick man and his new friend Peanut, a grey squirrel.
Sports
-
Lazio fan wearing 'Hitlerson' shirt among 3 banned for life
A fan wearing a shirt with a reference to Adolf Hitler was banned for life from attending Lazio matches by the Roman club on Wednesday.
-
Andreescu defeats Raducanu, Fernandez tops Tsurenko in Miami
Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez completed a first-round sweep for Canadians in the women's singles draw at the Miami Open with wins on Wednesday.
-
After player input, MLB allows some pitch clock delays
Major League Baseball has clarified its new rules to allow umpires to delay the start of the pitch clock after big swings in which a hitter loses footing or when a pitcher covers first base, third or home, in addition to other clarifications announced Wednesday.
Autos
-
GM to stop making the Camaro but a successor may be in works
The Chevrolet Camaro, for decades the dream car of many teenage American males, is going out of production. General Motors, which sells the brawny muscle car, said Wednesday it will stop making the current generation early next year.
-
U.S. probes reports of steering glitch on 2022, 2023 Honda Civics
U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints from Honda Civic drivers that their steering can stick, causing a momentary increase in effort and increasing the risk of a crash.
-
Last call: Dodge unveils last super-fast gasoline muscle car
The 2023 Challenger SRT Demon 170 will deliver 1,025 horsepower from its 6.2-litre supercharged V-8, and the automaker says it will be the quickest production car made.
