One more arrival from Hong Kong has tested positive for COVID-19, Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced last night.
The centre has classified the case as imported and asymptomatic, because of which it has not been added to Macau’s novel coronavirus tally, which therefore remains at 82.
The centre identified the female patient as a 28-year-old local resident who received her first and second COVID-19 mRNA jab in August and September respectively.
According to a statement by the centre, the woman travelled from Hong Kong to Macau on a shuttle bus (aka Golden Bus) via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) yesterday afternoon, and tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon arrival here, because of which she has been transferred to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for isolation.
“After considering the woman’s epidemiological history, clinical conditions and [COVID-19] test results, her condition has been classified as an imported and asymptomatic case, because of which it has not been classified as a confirmed COVID-19 case for Macau,” the statement said.
In addition to the total of 82 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the centre pointed out last night that Macau has now reported a total of 45 asymptomatic COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.
Police axe 8 non-resident workers’ stay permits in 2 months due to parallel trade
Meanwhile, the Macau Public Security Police (PSP) said yesterday that in January and last month, they abolished the stay permits of eight non-resident workers employed in Macau after concluding that they had engaged in Macau-Zhuhai cross-border parallel-trading activities (colloquially known as “soi hak” in Cantonese).
PSP officials made the remarks when attending a current affairs phone-in programme hosted by Ou Mun Tin Toi, the Chinese-language radio channel of public broadcaster TDM.
The PSP officials reaffirmed that parallel-trading activities are putting a burden on COVID-19 prevention and control work in Macau and the mainland, urging residents and all others not to engage in such activities, adding that they should also reduce the number of unnecessary trips between Macau and Zhuhai.
In the wake of the detection on Monday last week of an asymptomatic COVID-19 case of a female mainlander living in Zhongshan city’s Tanzhou town who was later confirmed as having engaged in Macau-Zhuhai cross-border parallel-trading activities by making use of her travel permit for visiting relatives in Macau, Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak said last week that the local police had decided to bar her from entering Macau for one year.
Wong said last week that the local police will only impose an entry ban on those holding a travel permit for visiting relatives in Macau or other purposes after concluding that they have engaged in cross-border parallel-trading activities, as the local police, he underlined, cannot simply impose an entry ban on all those with a travel permit who have merely crossed the Macau-Zhuhai checkpoints frequently during their permitted stay in Macau.
Wong also said last week that some of those with a travel permit for visiting relatives in Macau or other purposes may need to frequently cross the Macau-Zhuhai checkpoints due to bona fide reasons such as taking children to school, so that the frequent crossing of the Macau-Zhuhai border does not necessarily involve parallel-trading activities.
Consequently, Wong said, the local police have to investigate every case involving frequently crossing the Macau-Zhuhai border before deciding whether to impose an entry ban on the respective non-local residents holding a travel permit to Macau.
The Macau Public Security Police said later last week that they had decided to bar around 30 non-local residents from entering Macau for a period of time after concluding that they had engaged in cross-border parallel-trading activities.
The PSP officials also reaffirmed during yesterday’s phone-in programme that the local police will continue to bar certain non-local residents from entering Macau after concluding that they have engaged in activities in Macau that “obviously” deviate from the permitted purposes of their travel permits, such as cross-border parallel-trading activities. They police will transfer cases of local residents’ parallel-trading activities to the Macau Customs Service for follow-up, the officials said.
Strengthened assessments of travel permit applications
The PSP officials also underlined that mainlanders’ travel permits to Macau for visiting relatives here or other purposes are issued by the authorities in the mainland, adding that the Macau government has reported to the mainland authorities the occurrence of irregularities conducted by certain mainlanders with a travel permit to Macau. The Macau government has asked the mainland authorities to strengthen their assessments on mainlanders’ applications for a travel permit to Macau.
The PSP officials said that the local police have been closely monitoring Macau-Zhuhai travellers with an “abnormal” number of crossings of the checkpoints.
Parallel traders buy products in jurisdictions where they are sold at lower prices and sell them in jurisdiction where they can fetch higher prices. The flow of products thereby created is called parallel trade.
Parallel trade per se is not illegal as it does not involve contraband, i.e., goods that are illegally smuggled across borders in order to avoid customs duties or because their sale is banned such as weapons or drugs.
This photo taken yesterday shows the community isolation facility in Tsing Yi in Hong Kong, which came into use early this month. Photo: Xinhua
