Dignitaries and guests who will be attending celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, have entered a ‘closed loop’ arrangement in anticipation of a visit by President Xi Jinping. They’ve checked into the Grand Hyatt and Harbour View hotels, where they will undergo repeated testing to ensure they’re Covid-19 free. Priscilla Ng reports:

Health officials have reported 2,004 cases, the first time infections have gone over the 2,000 mark since April. But authorities say there has not been an "explosive rise" in infections. Todd Harding reports:

The government has been urged to further relax infection controls for people travelling between Hong Kong and the mainland. The call follows the announcement by the National Health Commission that it is shortening the Covid quarantine period for inbound travellers to the mainland. Maggie Ho reports:

Authorities in Guangdong province have announced the immediate easing of its quarantine rules for travellers to seven days in a designated location and three days at home. This comes a day after the National Health Commission announced the slashing of its quarantine requirements for international arrivals to the mainland by at least half. Roundtable lawmaker Michael Tien told Joanne Wong it was a positive sign for Hong Kong in planning its own relaxation of Covid-restrictions:

Members of Yuen Long District Council and the local government-appointed Area Committee have criticised the authorities for not sending out an emergency alert to residents after a power cable-bridge fire last week led to a massive power blackout. They questioned why the billion-dollar system could not issue localised alerts, but were told this would have made little difference as the power for mobile-phone transmitters was down. Timmy Sung reports:

An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft has photographed the entire surface of Mars, including visuals of its south pole, after circling the planet more than 1,300 times since early last year. Aaron Tam reports: