GUANGZHOU – Guangdong province said in a statement last night that it requires all arrivals from overseas to undergo concentrated quarantine and nucleic acid testing (NAT) starting from 6 a.m. today in a bid to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Travellers from overseas as well as Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan will be quarantined in designated places for 14 days. The quarantine expenses shall be paid by the travellers, according to Guangdong’s office of the provincial epidemic prevention and control headquarters.
Personnel who help ensure the continuation of normal life and production in Hong Kong and Macau as well as drivers and ship crew members who transport badly-needed supplies across Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau will not be quarantined for the time being, but all need to undergo nucleic acid testing, the office said. Authorities will beef up the health management for this segment of border crossers.
The Guangdong provincial government will closely monitor the overseas epidemic situation and strengthen communication and cooperation with the special administrative region governments of Hong Kong and Macau to further stem the spread of the novel coronavirus from overseas, the office said.
Meanwhile, a statement by Macau’s Public Security Police (PSP) reminded local residents last night that from 6 a.m. today all travellers entering the mainland through any Guangdong border checkpoint will be have to take the nucleic acid test and will be quarantined for 14 days of medical observation.
During the quarantine period, travellers will have to pay for their accommodation and food, the PSP statement pointed out.
The quarantine measure was announced by the Guangdong provincial government at around 10 p.m. yesterday. The statement underlined that the measure applied to all Macau and Hong Kong residents, as well as all transit passengers. The measure led to hundreds of people rushing to Macau’s Cotai and Ilha Verde border checkpoints to enter Guangdong before the new measure takes effect. A non-resident worker told The Macau Post Daily he was rushing back to Guangdong because he was keen to avoid paying for the 14-days quarantine in the adjacent province. A local resident said she was taking her child back to live with relatives in Zhuhai before today’s 6 a.m. deadline.
According to the PSP statement, for all those professionally involved in ensuring Hong Kong and Macau’s “essential supplies”, including cross-border drivers and their assistants, the quarantine measure will “temporarily” not be applicable. However, they are subject to the nucleic acid test the same as all travellers.
– Xinhua, MPD
Scores of people queue outside the Zhuhai-Macau Cross-Border Industrial Zone checkpoint building in Ilha Verde last night. Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
