Hong Kong students have reported not arriving in time for registration at mainland universities under the current quarantine rules.

China’s current quarantine policies for travelers from Hong Kong to the mainland include seven days of compulsory quarantine in designated hotels and three days of self-surveillance in home quarantine.

The government currently provides only 2,000 quotas for booking designated quarantine hotels in Shenzhen daily.

“My semester at the university will start on August 28,” said a student named Cheung, “thus, I should have departed Hong Kong on August 17 or 18, considering the 10-day-quarantine period for arrivals to China under its disease prevention rules.”

However, Cheung said she could not apply for the quarantine hotels in the mainland or Macau for the limited rooms left, nor buy the flight tickets as the price was raised to over HK$10,000 and was not available for the designated date.

“Same situation is not rare for Hongkong students,” she said.

During the LegCo, lawmaker Kitson Yang Wing-kit cited Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki that the government could charter flights for students to go to the mainland.

Yang added that a male Hong Kong student lost the opportunity to register at his university in Shanghai due to not being able to book a quarantined hotel.

“Not only charting flights,” Yang said, “more methods like buses and cars need to be provided for students.”

Lawmaker Edward Leung Hei said at the LegCo to recommend the government discuss with the mainland about conducting an ‘inverse quarantine scheme,’ which allows people to complete the first seven days of quarantine in Hong Kong and the last three days of self-surveillance in the mainland, claiming it will ease the pressure on people traveling between the two sides.

Over 13,000 student Hong Kong secondary school graduates chose to go to the mainland for further study in 2022, according to a report.