Macau’s Chief Executive (CE), Ho Iat Seng, has said he expects there will be further relaxation of the rules regarding the validity of a nucleic acid test certificate for people intending to travel to the city from the neighbouring Guangdong province, in mainland China.
Mr Ho comments were made on Monday in a meeting (pictured) with officials from Zhuhai, according to a press release from Macau’s Government Information Bureau.
Since April 25, people intending to travel to Macau from Guangdong have been required to hold a nucleic acid test certificate issued within 72 hours proving they are ‘negative’ for Covid-19 infection. The rules had been tightened in mid-March, coinciding with an uptick of Covid-19 infections in mainland China.
Mainland China is the only place to have a mostly quarantine-free travel bubble with Macau. Guangdong is the largest-single source of tourists to Macau.
Guangdong province-bound travellers departing from Macau are required – as previously – to present a nucleic acid test certificate issued with seven days, proving they are ‘negative’ for novel coronavirus infection.
In Monday’s meeting, Mr Ho thanked the Zhuhai authorities for “gradually relaxing” the rules regarding the nucleic acid test validity period. He said he hoped that travel constraints “would be further relaxed”, in order to “boost travel and economic activities” between the two sides.
The Chief Executive said also that Macau and Zhuhai had to “optimise their anti-pandemic policies,” to ensure the safety of border-crossing operations.
