Counter move: Lok Ma Chau control point will activate the dual-facing counter unidirectional application mode during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festive Period.

About 5.67 million people are expected to pass through control points during National Day and Mid-Autumn Festive Period, with about 4.21 million travelling by land, the Immigration Department says.

The peak period will last for 10 days, from September 29 to October 8. About 2.7 million passengers will travel through Lo Wu, an average of 270,000 passengers a day.

Departing passengers at Lo Wu will hit the highest point of 180,000 on September 30. The peak for arrivals will fall on October 2, with 180,000 people returning to Hong Kong. The highest daily traffic is expected to reach 315,000 on September 30.

Heavy traffic

Traffic at Lok Ma Chau will also be heavy, with a daily average of 136,000 passengers expected. The number of departures will peak on October 7, with about 83,000 people heading to the Mainland. Arrivals will hit 104,000 on October 2. Daily traffic is expected to reach a high of 165,000 on September 30.

To cope with the anticipated traffic demand, leave applications from immigration staff working at control points have been suspended and 85 officers will be deployed to reinforce the control points. Additional security guards will be employed to control crowds at Lo Wu.

A joint command centre will be set up at Lo Wu to oversee traffic conditions. If necessary, the Lo Wu control point will implement the contra-flow scheme to relieve congestion. 

For Lok Ma Chau control point, the dual-facing counter unidirectional application mode will be activated during the peak arrival period to raise the number of clearance counters. The number of immigration clearance kiosks will also rise from eight to 11 between 10pm and midnight from tomorrow to October 8.

Daily arrival statistics will be available here.