The Macau government announced late last night that from Monday next week only those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, aged at least 12, will be allowed to enter Macau from Hong Kong or Taiwan.
The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre made the announcement in a statement after midnight, which said that all those aged 12 or over departing for Macau from Hong Kong or Taiwan will have to present a certificate confirming that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at least 14 days prior, or a doctor’s certificate confirming that they are unable to be inoculated against the novel coronavirus.
The travellers must present the required certificate when boarding a shuttle bus (aka Golden Bus) from Hong Kong to Macau via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB), or boarding a flight from Taiwan, according to the statement.
According to the new measure, which will take effect at 00:00 on Monday next week, the travellers’ last required shot of a novel coronavirus vaccine must have been administered within seven months prior to departing for Macau.
Last night’s statement noted that the Macau government’s 14-day hotel quarantine requirement for Hong Kong arrivals and its 21-day hotel quarantine measure for arrivals from Taiwan remain unchanged.
Last night’s statement also noted that the Macau government’s other special COVID-19 border measure for Hong Kong arrivals also remains unchanged, according to which all those arriving in Macau from Hong Kong are only allowed to enter the mainland from Macau at least seven days after completing their required 14-day hotel quarantine in Macau.
Currently, those departing for Macau from Hong Kong or Taiwan must present a nucleic acid test (NAT) certificate confirming a negative COVID-19 result valid for 24 hours.
Since October last year, all those aged 12 or over departing for Macau from a foreign country have been required to be fully inoculated against the novel coronavirus.
The new measure that will take effect next Monday means that only arrivals from the mainland will still not be covered by the local government’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement.
2 returnees from US have COVID-19, both had booster jab
Meanwhile, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre also announced yesterday that two local women who returned to Macau from the United States on Monday have tested positive for COVID-19.
The centre has classified the two cases as imported and asymptomatic, because of which they have not been added to Macau’s novel coronavirus tally, which therefore remains at 79.
The two patients are a 57-year-old and a 25-year-old.
According to a statement by the centre, the 57-year-old received her first and second Moderna mRNA jab in the United States in March and April respectively, before receiving a Moderna booster jab in November.
The woman tested negative for COVID-19 in three nucleic acid tests (NATs) in San Francisco, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week. She flew to Singapore on Saturday and caught a connecting flight from Singapore to Macau on Monday, the statement said.
According to the statement, the 25-year-old received her first and second Moderna jab in the United States in May and June respectively, before receiving a Moderna booster shot last month.
The young woman tested negative for COVID-19 in three nucleic acid tests in Los Angeles, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday last week. She flew to Singapore on Saturday and caught a connecting flight from Singapore to Macau also on Monday, the statement said.
According to the statement, both tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon arrival at the local airport on Monday. Neither of them had come down with any COVID-19 symptoms as of last night. Both told Health Bureau officials that they had never been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease, the statement said.
Both have been transferred to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for isolation treatment.
40 Macau students in HK to return home tomorrow and Friday
Meanwhile, the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) said in a statement last night that the local government has arranged for around 40 Macau residents enrolled in universities in Hong Kong who are eager to return home to return to Macau tomorrow and Friday to undergo their hotel quarantine.
The DSEDJ statement also acknowledged that halls of residence in certain universities in Hong Kong have urged all their students to move out because of the ongoing deteriorating COVID-19 outbreak.
According to the statement, around 100 Macau students in Hong Kong have told the bureau that they want to return to Macau in the near future, around 40 of them said that they want to come back this month.
A sufficient number of quarantine hotel guestrooms in Macau are now available for the about 40 Macau students in Hong Kong to undergo their medical observation upon their arrival here tomorrow and Friday, according to the statement.
The statement said that the Education and Youth Development Bureau will carry out the arrangements for the around 40 students in line with the official COVID-19 prevention requirements in collaboration with the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), the Health Bureau (SSM) and the Transport Bureau (DSAT).
Foreign nationals without the right of abode in Macau have been barred from entering Macau since March 2020.
People queue for COVID-19 testing in Yuen Long in Hong Kong yesterday. Photo: AFP
