According to updates provided by Macau’s Public Security Police on Tuesday, the city saw 2,800 tourist arrivals on Monday, up 49.2 percent from the already-low base of Sunday.
The start of a recent slump in visitor numbers, noted from August 3 – when the daily tally slipped 46.1 percent to 12,900 – coincided with news that a local family of four had contracted the highly-infectious Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus.
It led to tighter rules for testing regarding cross-border travel, and a mass testing of people in Macau.
The police said in the Tuesday update, that on August 4, the visitor numbers fell even further judged day-on-day, by 86.1 percent, to 1,800.
The Macau government announced over the weekend that no new cases of Covid-19 infection were detected locally following completion of the city-wide mass-testing operation, which saw an aggregate of 716,251 tests administered.
On Monday it was announced that with effect from 6am on Tuesday, people intending to travel between Macau and the neighbouring Guangdong province, in mainland China, must hold a nucleic acid test certificate issued within 48 hours proving they are ‘negative’ for Covid-19 infection. That was a relaxation from the 12-hour validity rule that had been introduced on August 4.
The Macau government lifted at 10pm on Tuesday the status of “immediate pandemic prevention”, that had been in effect since 3.30pm on August 3.
But some travel restrictions remain, and entertainment venues that had been ordered shut by the government as a preventive measure remain closed. These include, among others: cinemas, theatres, indoor playgrounds, massage parlours, beauty salons, fitness centres, health clubs, karaoke venues, bars and night clubs.
