Macau's Metropole Hotel became today the first of 12 "quarantine hotels" to return to its normal hospitality role.
The 3-star hotel in the city centre became Macau's fifth hotel for quarantine and medical observation purposes on March 21. According to the booking.com website, the hotel has 112 rooms.
The hotel's change back to its original role was announced during the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre's daily press conference today. An official of the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said that Health Bureau (SSM) workers disinfected and cleaned the hotel today.
According to official statistics, some 3,750 people have been sent to the city's designated hotels for 14 days of quarantine and medical observation since February 26. The number of hotels had gradually been increased by the government to 12. The designated hotels have not been requisitioned but booked by the government which pays the hotel operators for their service.
While the stay at a quarantine hotel is free of charge for local residents, non-locals need to pay 5,600 patacas (US$700) for the 14-day stay.
As of yesterday, 1,532 people still stayed at the now 11 quarantine hotels, most of them local students who returned from overseas. Anyone diagnosed with COVID-19 during their quarantine hotel stay is immediately transferred to the isolation ward of the public Conde de S. Januario Hospital Centre.
Home quarantine is no longer practised in Macau.
Macau has 44 confirmed novel coronavirus disease cases with no fatalities. Ten of the patients have meanwhile been discharged from hospital.
