The Macau government announced on Friday an easing of its Covid-19 testing requirements for front-line casino staff, extending the interval between tests to every three days, from every two days. The change was the third update in under a fortnight.
Table game dealers, as well as security staff and cleaners working inside any casino, are now required to do a nucleic acid test or a rapid antigen test – typically a home-based test – every three days, proving their Covid-19 ‘negative’ status, said the city’s health authorities.
Workers need to report the ‘negative’ test results to the authorities so that they show on the person’s individual, Macau-issued electronic health code.
A prior guideline announced by the health authorities in early December said that frontline casino staff were required to do a nucleic acid test and a rapid antigen test every two days. Until late November, casino staff were required just to do a nucleic acid test every seven days.
The latest easing of Covid-19 test rules announced for the city’s front-line casino staff coincides with the local government relaxing to some extent its Covid-19 countermeasures.
Macau is entering a “new phase” in its approach to dealing with the pandemic, said on Thursday the official in charge of health policy.
For visitors from mainland China – the main tourism source market for Macau – some nucleic acid test rules still apply for entry, but post-entry testing has been scrapped.
Visitors coming via next-door Zhuhai in Guangdong province will still need to present a ‘negative’ nucleic acid test result with 24-hour validity from the time of testing, in order to enter Macau.
Such a test with 48-hour validity from the time of testing, is still required for those from the rest of the Chinese mainland.
