Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said this week that the Macau government is discussing with the central government the possible mutual recognition of Macau’s and the mainland’s COVID-19 vaccination records, enabling those travelling between the two regions to no longer need to present a nucleic acid test (NAT) certificate when crossing the border.
Ho said that if the central government approves the mutual recognition, this would save Macau residents who regularly cross the Macau-mainland border and mainland visitors who regularly visit Macau “much money” that is needed to pay for the nucleic acid tests.
Currently, those travelling between Macau and the mainland merely have to present a nucleic acid test (NAT) certificate confirming that they have tested negative for COVID-19 within the past seven days, without having to undergo quarantine upon their arrival in both regions.
Ho also said that if the mutual Macau-mainland recognition of COVID-19 vaccination records gets off the ground, it would be implemented for Guangdong province as a pilot scheme first.
Ho made the remarks when answering indirectly-elected lawmaker-cum-businessman Wang Sai Man’s question during a Q&A session in the legislature’s hemicycle on Tuesday.
Wang asked Ho whether the government would roll out new measures to attract more tourists to come to Macau to help Macau’s tourism sector hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the food souvenir shops which are highly dependent on tourists.
Ho noted that the Macau government has carried out promotional events for Macau’s tourism sector in Beijing and Hangzhou, adding that the Macau government will also carry out promotional campaigns in a number of cities in the country’s south-western area such as Chongqing and Chengdu in the near future.
Ho admitted that the NAT requirement for those travelling between Macau and the mainland is discouraging mainlanders from visiting Macau. Ho said that the Macau government was therefore discussing with the central government the possible mutual recognition of Macau’s and the mainland’s COVID-19 vaccination records, with a pilot scheme to be implemented for Guangdong first.
Ho said that so far only a small number of people in Macau have been inoculated against COVID-19, accounting only for a six or seven percent vaccination rate. He said that if the central government approves the mutual recognition, it would save many residents and visitors “who undergo a nucleic acid test every week” much money.
In Macau, a nucleic acid test costs 90 patacas.
Ho underlined that he surely will not issue an executive order requiring residents to get inoculated against COVID-19 as COVID-19 vaccinations should only be carried out on a voluntary basis. But he was quick to add that the local government wants more people to get their COVID-19 jabs in order to develop herd immunity.
