The Doumen district of neighbouring Zhuhai city, in Guangdong province, has classified Macau as medium-to-high risk area for Covid-19, according to a Wednesday announcement. Authorities in that district have advised people who have travelled from Macau since September 19 to report to authorities as soon as possible and conduct a test for the illness.
Macau health official, Leong Iek Hou, speaking on Wednesday in a government press briefing on Macau’s Covid-19 situation, said the city’s government “respected” the decision from the authorities in Doumen.
Ms Leong also said she was not aware if other districts or cities in the mainland would label Macau as a medium- or high-risk area for Covid-19. But she mentioned that various places in mainland China “might have different” systems to classify the risk associated with the virus, depending on their respective capacity to deal with the pandemic.
Since September 26, those exiting Macau to travel by land to neighbouring Zhuhai are subject to a 14-day quarantine, in addition to an already-existing requirement that such travellers hold a nucleic acid test certificate issued within 24 hours proving they are ‘negative’ for the virus.
The measure was announced because of Macau’s recently-reported Covid-19 infections. Macau has also enforced further travel restrictions amid the fresh Covid alert.
In Wednesday’s press briefing, a representative of the Macau police said the easing of travel to Zhuhai would not necessarily depend on whether the city does not report any new Covid-19 cases for consecutive 14 days. The official said such decision would rely on the results of the ongoing mass-testing exercise, as well as the results of the people considered of close contact of the newly confirmed cases.
Once the results are known, and if no fresh infections are reported, the authorities might then announce a new arrangement regarding border crossing protocols between Macau and Zhuhai.
As of 9am on Thursday, an aggregate of 681,579 people in Macau had been tested, with the results of 679,262 being ‘negative’, according to official data. The final results are due to be announced later on Thursday, once the third round of testing is completed.
