Anyone who has been to South Korea in the past 14 days is now required to undergo monitored quarantine at locations designated by the Health Bureau (SSM), announced the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center at yesterday’s daily press briefing.
If any respiratory symptoms are recorded or detected at the time of visitors’ arrival, they will be sent to the Conde de S. Januário Hospital for consultation and therapy. The new measure applies to everyone, not only non-locals.
Aside from the aforementioned, all those with travel history to the northeast Asian country in the past 14 days will need to declare the exact places they have been to in South Korea. Several places in the country are severely affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. These places are Daegu, Gyeongsangbuk-do and the Shincheonji Church. People who have been to these places will be sent directly to the SSM facility in Coloane for monitored quarantine.
Non-residents of Macau will have the option to undergo quarantine at the Pousada Marina Infante, at their own cost. Otherwise, they can choose to leave Macau immediately.
Macau residents, on the other hand, can choose to undergo quarantine at their own homes, provided their households meet the guidelines set by the health regulator. For example, the premises must be able to separate the quarantined person from other members under the roof, for example through the use of a separate room.
People under home quarantine will be contacted by the SSM daily to obtain data about their health condition. They will also be required to measure their own body temperature twice a day.
Officers from the Public Security Police Force (PSP) will conduct random spot checks to confirm whether the quarantined remain at home for the entire two weeks.
If the households do not meet the SSM guidelines, they will undergo quarantine at the Pousada. The costs of quarantine for residents will be borne by the Macau government.
The Center issued a clarification yesterday in response to a rumor online. The rumor claimed that Macau would close its borders at 10 p.m. last night.
The Center clarified that there was no measure concerning such a border closure. However, it reminded the general public that measures are in place to check people coming in from highly affected areas or Macau residents who are crossing borders at unreasonable frequency.
People who have been in such areas will be brought to provisional medical stations either at the Taipa Ferry Terminal or the Workers’ Stadium to undergo hours of medical checks, regardless of nationality.
As such, a Korean citizen who has not been to his or her home country in the past 14 days will be allowed into Macau, Leong Iek Hou, coordinator of the SSM’s Centre for Disease Control, said.
Apart from South Korea, Italy and Japan are also severely affected with reported outbreaks, but the latter two countries are not yet on the SSM’s list of severely affected areas.
Leong stressed that the bureau is closely and constantly monitoring the situation worldwide, and will take timely action once necessary. The case of Italy, however, is a bit tricky, as it is part of the European Union, which allows its citizens freedom of movement. It means that an Italian citizen can make a detour en-route to Macau.
Explaining the difficulty, Leong said the SSM is discussing plans in this respect.
As of 4 p.m. yesterday, 12 Korean citizens had tried to enter Macau. Six of them arrived by 12 p.m., which was the enactment of the quarantine measures on people with Korean travel history in the past two weeks. They were required to undergo medical checks.
The seventh person was able to prove to the PSP that they had not been to South Korea in the past 14 days and was allowed to enter the city.
The other five people declined to undergo monitored quarantine, so they returned to mainland China, from where they had attempted to enter Macau.
The Macau government announced yesterday that it has paved a way to help Macau residents currently in South Korea to come home.
With all flights between Macau and the northeast Asian country before March 1 canceled and Hong Kong barring entry of non-Hong Kong residents from South Korea, before today, Macau residents had no opportunity to return through the neighboring Special Administrative Region from South Korea. It was impossible because they had to enter and exit the city in order to make the air-to-land transfer.
The Macau government managed to find a way to help this group of Macau residents. Consensus has been reached with the Hong Kong government to adopt a solution.
Returnees must contact the Tourism Crisis Hotline prior to their return date. The airline and the Hong Kong government will be notified. Once they have arrived in Hong Kong, they will be taken straight to Macau by charter vehicles.
Leong stressed that they may not be allowed to board their flights if no prior notification has been made to the hotline.
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