The Macau government yesterday relaxed its entry ban on foreign nationals without a Macau ID card, according to which those living in Macau who have visited the mainland are now allowed to return to Macau.
The Macau government’s announcement about its new entry measure for foreign nationals, which starts today, came after the Office of the Commissioner of the Foreign Ministry in Macau announced yesterday that all foreign nationals holding a Macau permanent or non-permanent ID card can now apply again for all categories of visas to the mainland provided that they have been in Macau for at least 28 consecutive days before the date of application.
Yesterday’s statement by the commissioner’s office also announced that all other foreigners living in Macau who have been inoculated with a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine (at least 14 days after having two jabs in the officially required interval, or being inoculated with a single-dose vaccine) can now also apply again for all categories of visas to the mainland. The applicants must hold a valid certificate of COVID-19 vaccination issued by the Macau Health Bureau (SSM).
The adjustment to mainland visa applications by foreign nationals living in Macau started yesterday.
Both types of COVID-19 vaccines currently available in Macau, China’s Sinopharm inactivated vaccine and Germany’s BioNTech mRNA vaccine, require two jabs for people to develop immunity.
The Macau government has said that normally people will need to have the second shot four weeks after being given their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccination. The government has also said that most of those who have had the two jabs will develop COVID-19 immunity after two weeks.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign nationals – including those holding a Macau ID card – had, in general, been barred from entering the mainland since March last year.
Foreign nationals without a Macau ID card have, in general, been barred from entering Macau since March last year.
Since December last year, Macau has allowed certain foreign nationals without a Macau ID card, such as non-resident workers, the spouses or offspring of a Macau resident, or those who have been admitted to local higher education institutions, to enter the city, as long as they have been in the mainland for at least 21 days prior to their arrival here.
2 conditions
According to an executive order signed by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng and published in the Official Gazette (BO) yesterday, non-Macau residents who are not mainland, Hong Kong or Taiwan residents – i.e. foreign nationals without a Macau ID card – are allowed to enter Macau from today, provided they meet two conditions, namely 1) returning to Macau after travelling to the mainland from Macau with a mainland visa issued by the Office of the Commissioner of the Foreign Ministry in Macau, and 2) not having been to any countries or regions outside the mainland or Macau within the 21 days prior to their entry into Macau.
According to the executive order, the foreign nationals must return to Macau within the period of validity of their respective mainland visas for them to be allowed to return to Macau.
There are various categories of foreigners in Macau, including Macau permanent and non-permanent residents holding foreign nationality as well as foreign non-resident workers and foreign students.
The chief executive order was also announced during yesterday evening’s weekly press conference of the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre.
‘No plan to axe AstraZeneca order’
Meanwhile, Tai Wa Hou, the coordinator of the Health Bureau’s (SSM) COVID-19 vaccination programme, said during yesterday’s press conference that for the time being the local government does not plan to cancel its purchase order of 400,000 doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford adenovirus vector vaccines, as there was no evidence indicating a causal link between the vaccine’s inoculations and blood clots. He made the remarks when asked by the media about reports in a number of European countries according to which some people have suffered blood clots after having AstraZeneca-Oxford jabs.
Macau has not recorded a new COVID-19 case for 37 days, while no local case has been confirmed in 351 days.
Macau has recorded 48 COVID-19 cases since January 22 last year, 46 of which have been classified as imported, while two cases have been classified as “connected to imported cases”. Among the 48 patients, 47 have been cured and discharged from hospital, and no fatalities have been reported in Macau.
Over 30,000 have been in hotel quarantine
Meanwhile, the Health Bureau’s Control of Communicable Diseases and Surveillance of Diseases Department Coordinator Leong Iek Hou said during the press conference that 30,429 people have cumulatively undergone 14-day quarantine and medical observation in Macau – either at government-booked “quarantine hotels”, Health Bureau facilities or private homes – since early last year when the COVID-19 epidemic emerged. The vast majority of them went through their medical observation at the city’s so-called “quarantine hotels”. The bureau terminated home quarantine in late March last year. As of yesterday, 2,166 people were in hotel quarantine.
4 returnees test positive for COVID-19 in antibody tests
Meanwhile, the centre announced in a statement last night that four out of 30 Macau residents who returned to Macau on Sunday from Europe and the United States via Taipei tested positive for the novel coronavirus in their antibody tests, also known as serology tests, yesterday.
The statement said that all 30 passengers tested negative for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test (NAT) upon their arrival at the local airport on Sunday, after which they were taken to one of the government’s “quarantine hotels” for their 21-day quarantine and medical observation. The statement said that the four who tested positive for COVID-19 in their antibody tests have meanwhile been transferred to the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre for follow-up medical examinations, before the Health Bureau decides whether to classify them as COVID-19 patients.
Tai Wa Hou (left), the coordinator of the Health Bureau’s (SSM) COVID-19 vaccination programme, speaks during yesterday’s press conference about the city’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, as SSM Control of Communicable Diseases and Surveillance of Diseases Department Coordinator Leong Iek Hou looks on. Photo: Tony Wong
