Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng underlined yesterday that Macau’s increasing COVID-19 vaccination rate and the central government’s continuous easing of COVID-19 measures have paved a foundation for Macau’s continuous economic recovery, adding he believes that Macau will see a good economic development prospect next year.
Addressing a post-policy address press conference at Government Headquarters, the chief executive also reaffirmed that Macau must continue to stick to its dynamic zero-COVID policy.
The press conference, which lasted around 55 minutes, took place after Ho delivered his 100-minute 2023 Policy Address to the Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday afternoon.
Ho said that promoting Macau’s economic recovery will be the number-one priority for his governance next year while continuing with COVID-19 prevention and control measures. He noted that his 2023 Policy Address that he delivered to the legislature’s hemicycle before the press conference lays out his government’s measures to boost the city’s economic recovery by “using many pages and extensive paragraphs”.
According to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) latest data, Macau’s COVID-19 vaccination rate had reached 93.5 percent last week. The bureau has underlined that while the city’s inoculation rate among the population in general is high, the jab rate among senior citizens is still not high enough.
Ho acknowledged that it has been a long time to fight COVID-19 for almost three years. But he was quick to add that he believes that with Macau’s “constantly increasing” COVID-19 vaccination rate and with the mainland’s easing of COVID-19 measures, such as shorter hotel quarantine period for arrivals, Macau would see a “good development direction” next year.
‘No effective strategies ensuring COVID-19 prevention’
During yesterday’s press conference, The Macau Post Daily asked how the local government could strengthen its capability to ensure that the novel coronavirus imported from elsewhere will not enter the local community, even though the government is sticking to its dynamic zero-COVID approach. The Macau Post Daily asked how the local government can ensure the prevention of the occurrence of COVID-19 community cases disrupting Macau’s economic recovery that heavily depends on quarantine-free travel arrangements between Macau and the mainland.
Ho underlined that the Macau government must continue to “unwaveringly” stick to its dynamic zero-COVID policy.
Ho acknowledged, however, that there is no place in the whole world that can come up with “good and effective strategies” that would always prevent the occurrence of COVID-19 community cases. Ho noted that while the Hong Kong government has eased its entry measures for arrivals, namely a “0+3” arrangement that requires arrivals to practise three days of health monitoring without having to undergo hotel quarantine, Hong Kong has reported almost no increase in the number of tourist arrivals.
Ho also pointed out that even during its “golden period” before the COVID-19 pandemic, Macau’s tourism industry had heavily relied on visitor arrivals from the mainland.
Ho said that the Macau Health Bureau has managed to master the epidemiological characteristics of the novel coronavirus disease and thus acquired extensive experience in quickly bringing downs COVID-19 community transmissions every time after the novel coronavirus has entered the community.
Ho noted that the Health Bureau had swiftly tackled the city’s COVID-19 situation that affected the community between late last month and early this month.
HK arrivals currently hardly benefit local tourism
Meanwhile, Ho said that while currently, on average, around 150 Hong Kong residents come to Macau from the neighbouring special administrative region every day, the situation hardly benefits Macau’s tourism industry as most of the Hong Kong residents entering Macau merely intend to travel to the mainland via Macau by undergoing their hotel quarantine here.
Ho underlined that for the time being Macau cannot ease its COVID-19 entry measures for arrivals from Hong Kong, pointing out that, on average, Hong Kong currently reports around 5,000 to 6,000 new local COVID-19 cases every day.
Meanwhile, Ho also said that while the Macau Health Bureau has been implementing various measures to boost the COVID-19 vaccination rate among senior citizens, a “certain” number of seniors in the city have never been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. For example, Ho noted, all three members of a local family who were diagnosed with COVID-19 late last month had not been inoculated, adding that one of them is even a young person.
Cash handout
Meanwhile, Ho also said that the modus operandi of the government’s annual wealth-sharing cash handout scheme for local residents could be reviewed. He noted that the scheme, which was rolled out in 2008, is not regulated by a law. The cash handout scheme has been rolled out every year based on the government’s ad hoc decision.
Ho’s 2023 Policy Address states that next year’s annual cash handout will remain unchanged at 10,000 patacas for permanent residents and 6,000 patacas for non-permanent residents.
Currently, even residents who do not live in Macau benefit from the wealth-sharing scheme. Some civic leaders have urged the government to restrict the scheme to residents who live in Macau at least 183 days per year and to use the money that thereby can be saved to support needy senior citizens instead.
Ho also said that the annual increase in Macau’s consumer price index (CPI) has remained acceptably low over recent years, adding that some European countries are currently hit by inflation rates that are at their highest level in recent decades.
Gaming industry ‘very healthy’
Meanwhile, Ho also reaffirmed that the operations of Macau’s gaming industry is “very healthy” currently. Ho acknowledged that while the city’s gaming operators have been going through a difficult time for almost three years during which they have been incurring losses, this did not mean that some of them would go belly up because all of them had been able to generate huge revenues for almost two decades.
Ho urged residents not to believe views circulating on the internet that “bad-mouth Macau”.
Meanwhile, Ho also said that the government plans to launch a new round of applications at the end of next year for around 5,000 subsidised home-ownership scheme (HOS) flats.
HOS flats are part of the government’s public housing programme which also includes social rental housing.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng addresses a post-policy address press conference at Government Headquarters yesterday evening. – Photo: GCS
