Authorities should forge ahead with a "0+0" of zero hotel quarantine and zero medical surveillance scheme for new arrivals who test negative following the success of the global financial summit that saw over 200 top bankers and financial executives attending, former Hospital Authority chief executive Leung Pak-yin said.

In a Facebook posting yesterday, he said the arrival of foreign guests at the summit had not hampered the SAR's Covid fight, giving authorities the confidence to pick up the pace on the road to normality.

He said a series of anti-epidemic rule "exemptions" for the guests - including allowing them to enter designated premises in the first three days of their arrival - had not posed any additional transmission risk.

"I hope there will be a further relaxation, a 0+0, or a looser 0+3 arrangement soon," he said, while urging a review of a policy that requires travelers to undergo frequent nucleic acid tests. "It is inevitable [for Hong Kong] to get back in step with the world."

He also said the SAR may be a step closer to resuming cross-border activities with the mainland in view of reports that Beijing will soon announce a "5+2" scheme for arrivals and cancel a circuit-breaker mechanism for inbound flights.

Chinese University economist Simon Lee Siu-po echoed the call and urged a border reopening by the end of this year.

"The government can't say Hong Kong is back while keeping the border closed for another half a year. Foreign companies won't wait any longer," Lee said.

Pro-Beijing heavyweight Tam Yiu-chung said he understood residents are looking forward to the border reopening with the mainland, but they will "have to wait a little longer."

He said the SAR is discussing a "reverse quarantine" scheme with the mainland and hopes a solution will be reached soon.

Lee also urged the SAR to do better in controlling the pandemic and called on citizens to get vaccinated in order to resume activities with the mainland.

The calls came as the National Health Commission said in a meeting of Communist Party members Wednesday that the mainland must firmly uphold its zero-Covid strategy and curb transmissions "in the shortest amount of time and at the lowest cost."

It also comes as the mainland yesterday recorded 3,200 new Covid cases, including 933 detected in Inner Mongolia.

Of the 459 recorded cases in Guangdong, 373 were detected in Guangzhou, where mass testing schemes have been imposed in the Nansha, Haizhu, Baiyun, Huadu, and Tianhe districts.

Authorities have also locked down medium-risk areas in the Panyu district and banned residents from leaving their homes unnecessarily.

The much-trafficked Xiajiao station of the Guangzhou Metro was also closed.

Leung Pak-yin says the summit and the FinTech Week shows a further easing is needed. From near right: JPMorgan Chase president Daniel Pinto, HSBC group CEO Noel Quinn and Standard Chartered chief Bill Winters.

Summit drives calls for zero traveler curbs