The political heavyweight’s comments came after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced yesterday that a Hong Kong-mainland task force will be set up over the "reverse quarantine" plan, a plan to allow Hongkongers to complete isolation in the SAR before traveling to Guangdong.

Currently, people traveling from Hong Kong must undergo seven days of hotel quarantine followed by three days under surveillance at home. While another hindrance is that there are only 2,000 places at a centralized quarantine facility in Shenzhen.

Speaking to reporters, Tam said the Covid epidemic in Hong Kong and the mainland is still not over, and that a full reopening of the border between the two places is impracticable.

However, he noted that safe easing of the border control measures should be allowed, with the "reverse quarantine" plan a solution to the limited number of quarantine rooms on the mainland.

The support from mainland officials in Guangzhou and Shenzhen also showed a positive sign for the plan, he added.