Long queues at border checkpoints as Easter holiday travellers return to HK

Large crowds formed at multiple land border checkpoints on Monday night as Hong Kong residents returned home at the end of the Easter and Ching Ming Festival holiday, with some reporting wait times of at least an hour.

Social media footage showed long snaking queues at Shenzhen Bay Port late into the night, with travellers carrying luggage and holding babies. Lo Wu control point also saw heavy congestion, with one traveller saying a journey that normally takes 15 minutes took over an hour. "Lo Wu is completely jammed. I barely made it to the gate, but everyone behind me missed the crossing. It looks like the queue will have to go to Huanggang," the traveller wrote. Videos showed packed trains at Lo Wu station, with some passengers having to wait for the next train.

At the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the queue of vehicles heading towards Hong Kong stretched over 500 metres at 1.45am on Tuesday, with waiting times exceeding 40 minutes.

The Immigration Department had earlier estimated that Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau Spur Line, and Shenzhen Bay control points would be very busy during the holiday period, with average daily passenger flows of around 240,000, 220,000, and 184,000 respectively.