Chan Hou Lon, senior airport supervisor of the Airport Operations Department of the Macau International Airport Company (CAM), told reporters yesterday that currently there are three main procedures for air cargo arrivals disinfection, which takes about 30 minutes in total.
Chan made the remarks on the sidelines of a media tour demonstrating the disinfection measures concerning imported goods arriving by air at the airport.
According to Chan, arriving cargo is first disinfected on the plane, which takes about 10 minutes, then the cleaning crew leaves it in an enclosed area for 10 minutes before unloading the items onto the airport apron. Chan noted that the goods are disinfected again for another 10 minutes after being unloaded and before they are transferred to a storage area. Chan pointed out that the storage area is divided into different zones, the disinfected goods are taken out of the quarantine area and moved to the so-called green zone for storage, adding that they are then also labelled indicating that the goods had been cleaned already.
Chan underlined that the cleaning crew must wear personal protection equipment (PPE), and after performing the procedures on the cargo, they undergo deep cleaning and disinfection, adding that the whole procedure follows the government’s COVID-19 prevention and control guidelines.
Meanwhile, Taft Lam, the director of Airport Infrastructure and Air Navigation of the Macau Civil Aviation Authority (AACM), told reporters yesterday that in order to prevent the novel coronavirus being imported into Macau via air cargo, the government has been imposing stricter policies. He stressed that his bureau will continue to monitor the development of COIVD-19 in nearby areas and urge CAM to strictly abide by the guidelines.
Meanwhile, the civil aviation regulator said in a statement yesterday that in the past seven days, there were 17 flights arriving from international high-risk areas, carrying cargo weighing over 63,380 kilogrammes, as well as passengers. The statement pointed that nine cargo flights flew in from international high-risk areas, carrying 37,066 kilogrammes of imported goods, while 14 flights carrying both passengers and cargo from low-risk areas in the mainland carried 138,858 kilogrammes of goods.
Taft Lam (left), the director of Airport Infrastructure and Air Navigation of the Macau Civil Aviation Authority (AACM) and Chan Hou Lon, senior airport supervisor of the Airport Operations Department of the Macau International Airport Company (CAM), talk to reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s media tour demonstrating the disinfection measures concerning imported goods arriving by air at the airport.
A cleaning crew member wearing person protection equipment (PPE) disinfects unloaded air cargo at the airport yesterday.
Photos: Prisca Tang
