A conference was held in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Dec 22 to further exchanges between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong on COVID-19 prevention and control.

The conference was organized by the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).

Over 40 participants, including government representatives and medical experts from the two sides respectively led by Lei Haichao, vice-minister of the National Health Commission (NHC), and Matthew Cheung, chief secretary for administration of the Hong Kong SAR, had in-depth exchanges about the situation of the COVID-19 epidemic, the prevention of imported cases, nucleic acid tests, vaccine strategies, the use of health codes, and cases of COVID-19 prevention and control.

Experts at the conference agreed that government arrangements, scientific prevention and control measures, and public participation are key to winning the fight against the outbreak. Relevant departments and experts from the mainland and the Hong Kong SAR will further strengthen epidemic information reporting, technological exchanges and experience sharing to jointly protect people’s health and well-being.

Lei said that the central leadership is deeply concerned about the safety and health of Hong Kong citizens and pays a great deal of attention to changes in the situation and anti-virus measures in Hong Kong.

He said that the NHC will fully support the Hong Kong SAR government in actively pushing forward scientific, precise and standardized measures to combat the COVID-19 based on scientific evidence and successful cases to bring Hong Kong citizens’ lives and economic and trade activities back to normal at an early date.

Other attendees included Huang Liuquan, deputy head of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, Qiu Hong, deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR, and officials of the Guangdong provincial government's relevant departments.