More than 93.34 million inbound and outbound passenger trips had been recorded through the Zhuhai port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge as of Wednesday, seven years after the bridge opened to traffic.
The 55-kilometer bridge linking Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and the city of Zhuhai, all in south China, opened to traffic on October 23, 2018. It is the world's longest bridge-and-tunnel sea crossing.
According to the bridge's border inspection station, they handled 12.88 million passenger trips in 2019 and 860,000 vehicle trips that year. These numbers rose to 27 million and 5.55 million respectively in 2024. So far this year, the numbers have exceeded 25.1 million and 5.46 million respectively, up 17 and 25 percent year on year.
Expansion of individual travel from the mainland to Hong Kong and Macao has significantly boosted tourism across the bridge. Data from the inspection station showed that since the beginning of this year, the station has handled more than 10.15 million visitors from China's mainland, a record high. This figure includes 4.6 million visitors holding tourist visas.
Meanwhile, the bridge has shortened the driving time from Hong Kong to Zhuhai and Macao from three hours to about 45 minutes. In 2023, the Zhuhai port had seen a daily vehicle flow of roughly 9,000, which has grown to more than 18,000 currently.
Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge handles over 93 million passenger trips in seven years
A Spanish infectious diseases expert on Friday downplayed the risks of large-scale spreading of the deadly hantavirus, citing the current situation and precautionary measures already taken to prevent further outbreaks.
The Dutch-operated, hantavirus-hit expedition cruise ship MV Hondius is currently heading toward Spain's Canary Islands, following a rare outbreak that has resulted in three deaths. At least five cases of hantavirus have been confirmed out of eight suspected cases.
The strain is identified as the Andes virus, which is notable because it is known to spread between humans.
Vicente Soriano, the expert, said the virus can spread relatively easily in confined environments such as cruise ships. However, he added that the Spanish government's decision to bring the vessel to the Canary Islands and impose strict quarantine measures upon arrival is currently the best way to control its spread.
Health authorities in the Canary Islands have been placed on standby and have designated specific medical reception areas.
"It is difficult to predict what will happen after they arrive in the Canary Islands, or how many people are infected. But what we do know is that this is not expected to trigger an emergency outbreak. Among the few cases, there may be some asymptomatic individuals, and what will need to be done then is to place them in isolation," said Soriano.
Soriano believes it is unlikely that the outbreak will escalate to a state of emergency, as hantavirus is not entirely unknown and infection typically requires close contact with patients showing severe symptoms. Once cases are identified, they should be promptly isolated to effectively prevent the virus from spreading.
"The confirmed patients have already been evacuated and sent back to their home countries. Asymptomatic individuals will be taken to medical centers or hotels for nasal swab and blood tests. If they remain in good health after one week, with no fever and normal test results, they will be sent back to their places of residence in Spain or their countries of origin. I believe these measures are the right approach to prevent further spread of the outbreak and to bring it under control," he said.
Hantavirus is primarily transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents such as rats and mice. Infection can occur through inhaling contaminated dust, touching contaminated surfaces, or exposure to rodent droppings. In rare cases, certain strains, such as the Andes virus, can spread between humans through close contact.
Large-scale hantavirus outbreaks unlikely: expert
