Courts warn of precedents on mandatory isolation

The Office of the President of the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) issued a statement yesterday warning citizens about existing legal precedents on previous cases regarding appeals against mandatory isolation measures enforced by the local health authorities.
In the statement, the court noted that they have ruled in the past few years on at least four cases regarding the legality of the health authorities enforcing mandatory isolation measures on people in Macau, and all cases resulted in decisions in favor of the government.
From the mentioned four cases, three of them go back to 2014 and 2016 and relate to the outbreak of the Asian lineage of avian influenza A (H7N9) with the fourth being a recent case on January 24 relating to the current outbreak of the Covid-19.
In all the cases mentioned, the decision from the Court of First Instance (TJB) was favorable to the government authorities, and the Office noted that in the third case, which occurred in 2016, there was also an appeal filed to the Court of Second Instance (TSI).
In this case, the TSI upheld the ruling of the TJB, claiming that the health authority adopted an isolation period that had been established and adopted by internal or international health organizations. Thus, the decision to isolate was made, taking into account epidemiological studies, the uncertainties regarding the virus incubation period and eventual lethality and danger to the general population.
The judges of the TSI noted that the interests of public health, society, and the economy are more important than the interests of one person.
The courts also noted that, according to the laws currently into force in Macau, “whoever does not comply with the measure of medical observation or medical examination on the date and place indicated, is punished with a prison sentence of up to six months or a fine of up to 60 days; those who do not comply with the mandatory isolation measure are punished with imprisonment for up to 1 year or with a fine of up to 120 days.”