The decision to reopen Macau’s borders to visitors of 41 countries has not been solely based on a pandemic risk evaluation, but also relates to spending and perceptions of tourist capacity, the acting division head for health promotion at Health Bureau (SSM), Valerie Wong, said yesterday during the weekly briefing on the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center on the Covid-19 pandemic situation in Macau.
To an inquiry from the media on the topic, Wong explained that “factors such as economy and tourism were the basis of the decision, as well as the pandemic evolution worldwide,” she said, adding, “We decided to allow people from these countries to enter Macau because these countries have a good economic situation and also because we know that we only have one route to enter Macau from the exterior currently (via Singapore) and passport holders of those 41 countries can also enter Hong Kong or Singapore, a condition that makes them less likely to become stranded in Macau in case something [pandemic-related] happens.”
The same official also said that the local authorities have the intention of “gradually reopening to other countries too.”
When also questioned about the fact that of the 41 countries, none were countries with which Macau had a significant relationship through migrant workers as well as close proximity, Wong noted that for the non-resident workers (TNR), there is a special measure that allows them to exit, to visit family members or others, and then reenter Macau.
“For the time being, this system requires a pre-authorization, but we will monitor to determine whether [TNR] should be able to reenter without this pre-authorization in the future.”
During the same press briefing, questions arose about how to attract these tourists from abroad while keeping the ‘7+3’ quarantine requirement in force.
To such questions, Wong replied that the services have already made a big effort to significantly reduce waiting times associated with processing results of nucleic acid tests (NAT) and other procedures related to quarantines.
The official said that, nowadays, the average waiting time ranges between four to six hours, which, whilst not ideal, is already a great advancement, she said.
As for the possibility of amending the ‘7+3’ quarantine method, the official pointed out that Macau is following the instructions of the mainland while continuing to do a dynamic evaluation but, for the time being, there are no new developments to announce.
Schools resume
without much trouble
Yesterday’s resumption of classes for most schools took place without much concern or trouble, the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) Secondary Education Division Chief, Leong I On, said during the briefing.
Leong noted that most of the cross-border students have been able to arrive without problems although occasional issues have been reported.
“Over 2,000 cross-border students have entered Macau [yesterday] as 60% of schools have resumed. There were a few cases of students [not making it] to school due to problems crossing the border but we are following up on that with the schools,” Leong said, adding that the DSEDJ received the registration of around 4,000 students to be specially exempted from the daily quota imposed on border crossings between Macau and Zhuhai and an additional 3,000 for those accompanying students at the border crossing.
“We also noticed that there are some errors in the records so we are asking schools to certify that all data is correct so there are no problems later,” he concluded.
