'Border crossings smoother now black code gone'
Travellers crossing the border between Hong Kong and the mainland on Wednesday welcomed the cancellation of the Covid declaration requirement. People no longer have to fill in an online form to get a "black code" before heading up north or coming to the SAR. At the Lo Wu crossing, a student who lives on the mainland said it is now more convenient to get to school in Hong Kong. "Every time I crossed the border I needed to have a black code and sometimes it did not show up so it could be annoying," he said. "Maybe it was the internet connection. It slowed people down at the checkpoint and could even lead to congestion." An elderly woman agreed that the crossing process is now smoother. "I didn't know how to fill things out online and so I needed my children or someone at the border checkpoint to help me with that," she said. "It could take a long time to scan the code if it was a holiday and there were many people. There was one time when I waited for around 40 minutes. Now it just takes less than 10 minutes to cross the border."