Macau's jobless rate rises during COVID-19 epidemic

Macau's general unemployment rate for December 2019-February 2020 was 1.9 percent, while the unemployment rate of local residents was 2.6 percent, up by 0.2 and 0.3 percentage points respectively from the previous period (November 2019-January 2020), the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced today. Macau's economy has been hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic since late January. Macau's  labour force was 398,400, according to the bureau's latest employment survey covering

March 28, 2020 | BY admin

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Macau confirms 35th COVID-19 case, imported from UK

The Macau government announced today the city's 35th novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) case, a 19-year-old local resident who returned from the UK via Hong Kong yesterday.According to a statement by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre, the patient took Virgin Atlantic Airways flight VS206 (seat 21G) from London to Hong Kong yesterday. He took a special bus arranged by the Macau Tourism Crisis Management Office to Macau directly from the airport to Macau via the Hong

March 28, 2020 | BY admin

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Sands' Sheraton becomes Macau's 12th 'quarantine hotel'

Sands’ huge Sheraton Grand hotel in Macau’s Cotai gaming precinct has become the city’s 12th “quarantine hotel”, the government announced yesterday. According to a statement by the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), the mega-hotel will be temporarily used as a “designated hotel for quarantine and medical observation” starting yesterday.  The statement notes that the Sheraton Grand “is a mega-hotel complex connected to a shopping mall, restaurants as well as other

March 28, 2020 | BY admin

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Lawmakers pass amended budget, first to fall back on reserves

Macau's Legislative Assembly (AL) has passed the government's 2020 budget amendment bill, the first budget falling back on the special administrative region's sizeable financial reserves. Lawmakers unanimously passed the proposed budget in its first reading in a plenary session on Thursday. The budget will now be reviewed in detail by one of the legislature's standing committees before its second and final reading and vote. It is the first time that an annual budget proposed by a

March 28, 2020 | BY admin

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Macau announces 34th COVID-19 case

The Macau government announced tonight the city's 34th novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) case, a local resident who returned with his two children from visiting his wife in the Philippines on March 18. According to a statement by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Prevention Centre, the 43-year-old man travelled to the Philippines with his son and daughter in November to visit his wife in Manila. On March 18, he and his two children took Cathay Pacific Airways flight CX902 (business

March 27, 2020 | BY admin

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Macau announces exemptions from Guangdong quarantine

Macau's public security chief announced today a raft of exemptions from Guangdong's 14-day mandatory quarantine for arrivals from Macau. Secretary for Security Wong Sio Check announced the exemptions during the daily press conference of Macau's Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre. The mandatory quarantine requirement for border crossers from Macau was announced by the Guangdong provincial government last night. Wong said that the Zhuhai-Macau Novel Coronavirus

March 27, 2020 | BY admin

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Liaison Office in Macau gets new vice-director

The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) announced today the appointment of Yan Zhichan as one of its four vice-directors. According to a statement by the office, Yan was born in the city of Yangchun, Guangdong province, in May 1964. A graduate of Sun Yat-sen University's School of Government, she holds a master's degree in Management. She began her career as a public servant in July 1985. Yan held a raft of senior

March 27, 2020 | BY admin

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Macau opens 11th 'quarantine hotel'

The Macau government opened today the city's 11th "quarantine hotel", the 132-room Jai Alai in the Outer Harbour area.According to a statement by the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), the hotel has temporarily been designated for medical observation purposes in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. The statement pointed out that the designated hotels - informally known as "quarantine hotels" - facilitate close monitoring of people's health conditions, allowing

March 27, 2020 | BY admin

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14 day-quarantine in Guangdong for arrivals from Macau

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

March 27, 2020 | BY admin

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Govt provides career matching for 2,600 jobs in leisure industry: DSAL

The Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) said in a statement yesterday that it has been  providing career matching activities for jobseekers, based on 2,600 jobs offered by the city’s large-scale leisure enterprises.The statement pointed out that due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local employment and labour markets, the bureau has further “optimised its employment matching process”, in order to help job seekers get back into employment as soon as possible.The statement

March 27, 2020 | BY admin

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Farmer nabbed for at least 9 cases of bus stop pickpocketing

A 54-year-old mainland man was arrested on Wednesday when he was about to leave the city after committing another round of pickpocketing at bus stops, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a special press conference yesterday.The suspect is a farmer surnamed Mai from Guangxi.According to Leng, the police received multiple reports of thefts at bus stops in January and March. The police found CCTV footage showing Mai using his tote bag as cover, and taking advantage of the

March 27, 2020 | BY admin

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HK man smuggles lots of drugs into Macau before stricter entry rules, puts price up 20 pct

A Hong Kong man smuggled a large amount of cocaine into the city before the local government implemented 14-day quarantine measures between Hong Kong and Macau at midnight on Wednesday, planning to increase the price of the drug by 20 percent, PJ spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a special press conference on Wednesday.Leng said that following a tip-off a Hong Kong resident and local man suspected of trafficking and taking drugs were arrested in Rua da Praia do Manduco on Tuesday evening and

March 27, 2020 | BY admin

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DSAJ to halt its online services over weekend for maintenance: govt

The Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ) said in a statement yesterday that from Saturday 1 p.m. until Sunday 7 a.m., the bureau will suspend its online services due to information system maintenance.During the maintenance period, all online notary services, applications for judiciary assistance services and consultations on the progress of proceedings will be temporarily suspended, the statement said.Online services will resume once the information system maintenance work is complete, the statement

March 27, 2020 | BY admin

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Hotels in resorts could be used as quarantine facilities: MGTO

Addressing yesterday evening’s daily press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, Inês Chan Lou, who heads the Licensing and Inspection Department of the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), said that the government was studying the possibility of hotels in integrated resort complexes being converted into quarantine facilities while maintaining the operations of the resort’s other facilities such as malls. ‘Stand-alone’ hotels preferable for

March 27, 2020 | BY admin

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