GGRAsia – Hotel, eatery entry to be tied to Macau Covid tracing app

Hotel, eatery entry to be tied to Macau Covid tracing app

Jan 12, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

From Saturday (January 15) Macau government-licensed hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues will be required to display at their entrances a QR code linked to the city’s recently-launched Covid-19 tracking app.

Macau already has an online health code declaration system, developed by the Health Bureau. The new app incorporates the existing declaration system, but adds a QR-code scanning function whereby a log is created of the user’s entry to certain venues around the city.

For now, the public will be asked – not required – to download the tracking app and scan such a QR code on arrival at the venue. Eventually, use of the tracking function will be compulsory for entry to certain venues, says the government.

The government says the new approach will make it easier to trace quickly people’s movements in the event of a local outbreak of Covid-19.

That is according to health official Leong Iek Hou, speaking on a radio programme of local public broadcaster TDM, transmitted on Wednesday.

Entry to bars, nightclubs, saunas, massage parlours, health clubs, and karaoke lounges is also covered by the QR code scanning system.

Macau’s Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong U, told local media on Monday that the practice of scanning venue codes would be eventually made compulsory for admission to various places in the city.

Separately, the Macau government is also considering a new policy whereby entry to certain local indoor venues, including restaurants, would require either proof of vaccination against Covid-19, or possession of a certificate showing a ‘negative’ Covid-19 nucleic acid test result.