The Macau government has extended its hotel quarantine period for arrivals from Taiwan from 14 to 21 days.
Under the new measure, which took effect at 00:00 yesterday, those who have been to Taiwan within the 21 days prior to their entry into Macau must now undergo 21 days of quarantine and medical observation at one of the government’s “quarantine hotels” upon their arrival here. After completing the 21-day quarantine, they will not need to practise “self-health management”.
The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced the toughened quarantine measure for arrivals from Taiwan in a statement on Saturday, which said that the Macau government had decided to tighten its quarantine requirements for arrivals from Taiwan “due to the latest changes in Taiwan’s COVID-19 epidemic situation”.
The statement said that those who had still not completed their 14-day hotel quarantine – after arriving from Taiwan – before the measure took effect yesterday are required to practise seven days of “self-health management” after completing the 14-day quarantine. The Macau Health Code colour of those undergoing “self-health management” will be yellow, the statement noted.
Taiwan’s health authorities yesterday confirmed 206 new local COVID-19 cases, the highest number ever recorded in a single day since start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taiwan has been grappling with a series of cluster infections in the past few days and yesterday marked the third consecutive day in which the record for the highest number of daily local cases was broken.
The Macau government’s announcement made on Saturday evening about its new 21-day quarantine requirement for arrivals from Taiwan came after the island’s health authorities reported 180 new local COVID-19 cases earlier that day, the then highest number recorded in a single day since the pandemic began.
In its Saturday statement, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre underlined that “it has decided to implement the new quarantine measure in line with the latest developments of Taiwan’s COVID-19 epidemic situation”. “The centre will constantly assess Taiwan’s COVID-19 epidemic situation. Macau will restore its original [14-day] quarantine measure [for arrivals from Taiwan] as early as possible if there would be the conditions to allow it,” the statement said.
The 21-day quarantine requirement for arrivals from Taiwan came only two days after the Macau government reimposed its “self-health management” on them on Friday, according to which those who had completed the then 14-day hotel quarantine in Macau after arriving from Taiwan were required to practice seven days of “self-health management”.
About two months ago, the Macau government lifted its then 14-day “self-health management” for arrivals from Taiwan.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Hong Kong recorded its highest number of daily local COVID-19 cases on July 30 last year when 145 new local cases were reported.
As of yesterday, Taiwan had recorded 1,682 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, including 550 local infections. A total of 12 COVID-19 deaths have been reported on the island, which has a population of 23.8 million.
Pedestrians wearing facemasks after the Taiwan authorities raised their alert level in the wake of a new wave of COVID-19 coronavirus infections, cross a street in New Taipei City on Saturday. – AFP
