Hong Kong will end some of its last major COVID rules, scrapping gathering limits to vaccination checks and testing for travelers, in a sweeping overhaul of policies aimed at reviving its reputation as a global financial center.

There will be no cap on the number of people who can gather in public, and the vaccine pass for entry to a raft of venues will also be scrapped, starting from Thursday, Chief Executive John Lee said Wednesday. Close contacts of COVID-positive people won’t need to quarantine and limits on the number of people who can sit together in restaurants and bars — currently 12 and six, respectively — will be lifted.

The city will also no longer require inbound travelers to take two PCR tests after their arrival, but recommends they take rapid tests through their fifth day in the city.

People coming to Hong Kong will need to perform either a rapid test within 24 hours of departing for the city, or a PCR test within 48 hours. The health declaration form is no longer mandatory, meaning there’s no obligation to report the result, but a border official may request to see a photo of the test.

The changes are based on a high immunity level in the city, sufficient medicine, experience of handling COVID among health care workers, an improved emergency response system and better awareness among residents, Lee said. “The above mentioned changes are strongly pushing Hong Kong to recover.”

While the new rules mean Hong Kong has done away with almost all of its major pandemic curbs — a mask mandate and daily rapid tests for kindergartens and primary schools remain — the incremental pace of loosening stands in stark contrast with the abrupt U-turn on COVID Zero in mainland China. It’s also put the city on track to open up to the mainland just as China grapples with the world’s biggest outbreak, and a growing list of overseas locations grow anxious about infections spreading.

The world’s second-biggest economy is set to emerge from almost three years of self-imposed global isolation on Jan. 8 and is also set to resume issuing Hong Kong travel permits and reopen express checkpoints on the border. The South China Morning Post reported, citing people it didn’t identify, that Hong Kong’s border with the mainland will reopen on Jan. 10 at the earliest, with priority for travel to the city given to those with business and family needs.

At the briefing, Lee said that he’s aiming to come to an agreement with mainland authorities and ask for approval from the central government by mid-January. The reopening will be gradual, he said.

Other parts of the world are more cautious about welcoming visitors from mainland China, where the country’s health regulator estimated nearly 37 million people may have been infected in a single day last week as the rapid dismantling of COVID Zero sparked a wave of infections.

Japan will require a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival for visitors who have been in mainland China within a seven-day period, with anyone testing positive required to quarantine for a week. The US is considering new coronavirus precautions for people traveling from China, Bloomberg News reported, citing an American official who asked not to be identified discussing internal thinking. During January, Taiwan will require people traveling from mainland China to take a PCR test after their arrival.

Hong Kong is also facing its own flareup, with local infections rising and health officials warning about the strain being put on the health-care system from both COVID and influenza. The city reported over 18,000 COVID cases a day during the Christmas period, more than doubling from a month ago, and the number of patients in critical and serious condition is rising.

Some of the city’s public hospitals reported wait times of over eight hours in their emergency departments during the four-day holiday period, though that had declined to one-to-four hours on Wednesday. A health official last week asked people with mild COVID symptoms to consider using private medical services. The SCMP also reported Hong Kong’s local pharmacies are selling out of common antipyretics, including to send to friends and relatives in mainland China.

Hong Kong will keep its mask mandate, which requires wearing a face covering in most public outdoor and indoor settings, to avoid being hit by both COVID and influenza, Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau said.