Macau has lifted, starting from Monday (February 27), its requirement for people to use a protective face mask when outdoors. The announcement was made on Sunday by the city’s health authorities.
The need for a face mask – introduced previously to counter the spread of Covid-19 – was also discontinued for some types of indoor venue, including schools. At the time this story was published, there was no official guidance on usage of face masks inside casinos.
Masks will still be required on public transport, except taxis, healthcare-related venues, and in a handful of other situations.
Even before Monday, Macau’s outdoor-mask protocol was not mandatory, but it was observed by most of the city’s population, and by visitors. Mandatory use was only for an aggregate of under one month, spanning part of July and part of August last year. That had been amid a local surge in Covid-19 infections at a time a ‘zero-Covid’ policy was in place. During that period, Macau casinos were also required to shut down for 12 days.
Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre said on Sunday it had decided to ease mask-wearing requirements as pandemic-related conditions had “remained stable over the last two months”.
Macau cancelled with effect from January 8 most of its Covid-19 -related travel restrictions, dropping all testing requirements for inbound travellers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The authorities on the Chinese mainland also substantially eased from January 8 travel restrictions with Hong Kong and Macau, with most Covid-19 controls scrapped.
In its Sunday notice, the Macau health authorities stated that “one is not required to wear a mask when staying in outdoor places”.
It added, in reference to the use of face masks in indoor venues: “Their supervisory entities should exercise discretion after assessing… factors [such] as: the prevailing pandemic situation; air circulation in the venues…; the number [of people] and density of the crowd; as well as the nature and duration of activities”.
It added, “if masks are required, an announcement or a notice should be made in an appropriate manner”.
The easing of anti-pandemic measures in Macau has coincided with a surge in the number of visitor arrivals and of business in the city’s casinos.
Macau recorded nearly 1.40 million visitor arrivals in January, up 101.3 percent year-on-year and 259.0 percent month-on-month, according to data released by the city’s Statistics and Census Service.
The city’s January casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) grew 232.6 percent month-on-month. January GGR was MOP11.58 billion (US$1.43 billion), according to the city’s regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. December 2022’s GGR had been MOP3.48 billion.
