Hong Kong launches health code to follow for quarantine-free travel with the Mainland and Macau

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The system opens for registration at 9am effective 10 December (Friday), allowing potential travellers to register an account and familiarise themselves with its functions earlier.

The Hong Kong Health Code system, aimed to facilitate quarantine-free travel between Guangdong, Macau and Hong Kong, will be open for registration from 9am on 10 December 2021 (Friday). This allows potential travellers to register an account and familiarise themselves with its functions early, once quarantine-free travel officially resumes.

Having the code in place will ensure the users are not high-risk individuals during boundary crossings and would not impose additional risk to the anti-epidemic work in the Mainland, this aid joint prevention and control mechanisms.

For users looking to familiarise themselves with the code, please note the following steps.

Step 1: Real-name registration is needed for the Hong Kong Health Code. Members of the public can register for an account online from 9am on December 10. The "LeaveHomeSafe" mobile app 3.0 version will also be available for update on respective app stores at the same time.

Step 2: Applicants of the "Hong Kong Health Code" are required to register personal information such as name, identity document number and date of issue, contact telephone number, residential address, etc, and upload Hong Kong residential address proof. Applicants who are residing in Hong Kong Housing Authority Public Rental Housing do not need to submit the residential address proof, as the system will verify the information according to the public housing resident database.

Step 3: Once verified, applicants will receive a personal identification number (PIN) for account activation.

Step 4: Upon successful registration, users can upload their visit records in the "LeaveHomeSafe" mobile app, as well as make a health declaration online. The system will compare users' residential address and their visit records in the past 21 days with the lists of COVID-19 confirmed cases and close contacts to determine and issue to the users their own Red, Amber or Green "Hong Kong Health Code".

FAQs on residential address

To note, priority will be accorded to applications from those who can upload a Hong Kong residential address proof, as well as those who are residing in the Hong Kong Housing Authority Public Rental Housing. A PIN will be provided to activate such accounts.

If applicants fail to provide the Hong Kong residential address proof, or the system cannot verify their residential address, they will have to wait for a confirmation letter issued by the Government. The letter will be sent to the residential address of the applicant for account activation.

"Applicants who are not Hong Kong identity card holders will have to bring the letter and their identity document for identity verification at designated post offices," a spokesperson for the Innovation and Technology Bureau explained.

Who will be allowed to travel quarantine-free?

After the resumption of quarantine-free travel with Guangdong Province or Macau, only persons with a Green Hong Kong Health Code' valid for the day, and can fulfil other specific criteria, can apply for code conversion to the Yuekang Code or the Macau Health Code.

The Hong Kong Health Code has been aligned through mutual data recognition mechanism and colour coding with the Guangdong Province and Macau codes. In other words, the standard of the Red, Amber and Green codes of the Hong Kong Health Code is generally in line with those of the YueKang Code or the Macau Health Code.

As part of the process of rolling out the Health Code, HKSAR Government is arranging outreach teams to go to the community, such as housing estates, street counters and MTR stations in the 18 districts in Hong Kong, and assist citizens in need for making their applications. It is also liaising with the telecommunications industry and charitable organisations to give smartphones and SIM cards for free to those in need.

Various departments are coordinating the relevant work. Details will be announced later. For now, the public can call 3142 2330 for queries.

Image / HKSAR Government (Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Alfred Sit, together with the Government Chief Information Officer, Victor Lam, and the Deputy Government Chief Information Officer, Tony Wong, at the press conference held to announce details of the Hong Kong Health Code)

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