The local government’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement last night that from today group tour visitors from the mainland can only cross the Macau-Zhuhai border via the Hengqin border checkpoint or the Macau-Zhuhai checkpoint on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB).
Visitors with other tour permits – i.e. Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) tour permits – can cross the Macau-Zhuhai border via all major Zhuhai-Macau border checkpoints, namely 1) the Gongbei checkpoint, 2) the Wanzai checkpoint, 3) the Hengqin checkpoint, and 4) the Macau-Zhuhai checkpoint on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.
Macau has five border checkpoints with Zhuhai, namely 1) the Barrier Gate checkpoint (with the Gongbei checkpoint in Zhuhai), 2) the Inner Harbour Ferry Terminal (passenger ferry service with Zhuhai’s Wanzai), 3) the Macau-mainland joint checkpoint on Hengqin Island in Zhuhai, 4) the Macau-Zhuhai checkpoint on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, and 5) the Zhuhai Macau Cross-border Industrial Zone checkpoint.
The Zhuhai Macau Cross-border Industrial Zone checkpoint is not open to visitors. It is open 24/7 to those working in the cross-border industrial zone, which is located in Ilha Verde at the Macau side, and open between 12 a.m. and 7 a.m. to residents, mainland non-resident workers and mainland students enrolled in Macau.
The issuing of Individual Visit Scheme and group tour permits for all mainlanders to travel to Macau resumes today. The issuing of the travel permits for Zhuhai residents resumed on August 12, after which the resumption was extended to all Guangdong residents on August 26.
Yesterday’s statement underlined the gradual restoration of normal movement of people between the mainland and Macau, including today’s resumption of the issuing of tour permits for all mainlanders to travel to Macau, adding that in order to carry out routine COVID-19 prevention work between the mainland and Macau and ensure travellers’ smooth crossing of the Zhuhai-Macau border, the Macau and Zhuhai governments have reached consensus on implementing the new border checkpoint arrangement for mainland visitors.
Yesterday’s statement pointed out that the travellers have to present a valid nucleic acid test (NAT) certificate confirming that they have tested negative for COVID-19 within the past seven days when crossing the Zhuhai-Macau border. They also have to generate a green Guangdong Health Code.
