CE Rules Out Point-based System For Travel Quota

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said it is impossible for the government to introduce a point-based system to decide who gets to travel quarantine-free to mainland first, as it would be difficult to decide whether one case is more urgent than another.

The idea of vetting each case by its urgency was put forward by the Society for Community Organisation (Soco), but Lam said it would only create chaos.

"Relevant work needs the co-operation of all members of the public, through the spirit of a civil society. Because everyone can imagine, it's impossible for us to do a detailed vetting system going through every case, counting the points," the CE told reporters before attending the weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday.

Having announced last week that businesspeople will be first in the queue when quarantine-free travel with the mainland resumes, Lam now stressed her government will also fight for travel quota for the needy.

Lam also called on those who don't have to attend to any urgent matters on the mainland, like people who just want to go on holiday, to give way to those in need.

Responding to Lam, Soco’s spokeswoman Sze Lai-shan said officials still need to make clear how they decide who has priority.

"You should have some criteria for those emergency cases, otherwise you don't how [to give priority]," she told RTHK.

Sze said she's not sure how the CE's "civil society" appeal will work, saying people who may not exactly have an urgent need will still want to cross the border earlier than later.