Authorities in Guangdong have advised the public to “avoid non-essential trips” outside of the province, as a precaution against the risk of spreading Covid-19. The province, which has a population of more than 100 million, is the largest-single feeder market currently for Macau’s tourists.
In a recent statement, the Guangdong authorities also said that the public should not travel to areas within the country considered either ‘mid-‘ or ‘high-risk’ for Covid-19, and should avoid trips overseas.
A fresh Covid outbreak in China has spread to new locations, across more than 10 provinces in the mainland. More than 300 cases have been detected within a span of 10 days, and local authorities have been imposing stricter travel restrictions.
Cases in at least 12 of the provinces are connected to an outbreak that began in Nanjing in eastern Jiangsu province.
Mainland China is the only place to have a largely quarantine-free travel bubble with Macau. But travel restrictions between Macau and mainland China have again been increased since late July, due to new Covid-19 infections on the mainland.
As of Monday (August 2), the Macau authorities have also added new locations – spread across nine Chinese provinces – to the list of places where departing travellers must do a 14-day quarantine on arrival in Macau. The latest includes a district in the city of Haikou in Hainan province.
With effect from the stroke of midnight on Saturday (July 31), people intending to enter Macau on a direct flight from mainland China Mainland China is the only place to have a largely quarantine-free travel bubble with Macau, must hold a nucleic acid test certificate issued within the preceding 48 hours, proving they are ‘negative’ for Covid-19 infection.
Brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd suggested in a recent memo that Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) in August was likely to be negatively affected by restrictions imposed to stem the further spread of Covid-19 cases in the mainland.
On Monday, Macau health official Tai Wa Hou urged local people to avoid non-essential travel “beyond Guangdong province” during the remaining summer break. Speaking during a briefing by the city’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre, the official said the fresh wave of Covid-19 infections on the mainland involved the more infectious Delta virus variant.
