China resumed on Sunday high-speed rail services between Hong Kong and the mainland for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it dismantles travel curbs after Beijing scrapped quarantine rules for arrivals a week earlier.
The reopening comes amid a massive wave of infections nationwide and a day after authorities said nearly 60,000 people with COVID-19 had died in hospital, following last month's abrupt U-turn on "zero-COVID" policy in the wake of historic protests.
Despite the infections, some passengers voiced excitement and relief about being able to more easily return to their hometowns in time for the approaching Lunar New Year.