A senior medical official today urged residents to refrain from travelling, to Hong Kong in particular.
Lam Chong, who heads the Health Bureau's (SSM) Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, made the appeal during the daily press conference by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lam also said that the government was assessing the possibility of imposing stricter border control measures for Macau residents visiting Hong Kong in view of the deteriorating novel coronavirus situation there. "We are assessing the situation in Hong Kong. We do not rule out the possibility of taking stricter measures to stem the risk of [COVID-19] spreading," Lam said.
Currently, all ferry links between Macau and Hong Kong have been suspended. The vehicular Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) is currently the only direct transport link between the two special administrative regions.
A police spokesman said at the press conference that about 4,700 Hong Kong residents entered Macau yesterday, or about two-thirds of all visitor arrivals.
As of last night, Hong Kong had 273 confirmed COVID-19 cases including four fatalities, according to the worldometers.info website. Macau had 17 confirmed cases with no deaths.
