Doors to the mainland open for blue card holders

Non-resident workers (TNRs) and other non-Macau residents in the city on legal permits are now allowed to enter mainland China and return to the Special Administrative Region under certain conditions, a Chief Executive Dispatch stated yesterday.
To qualify, the non-Macau residents need to bear a valid Chinese visa issued by the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Macau Special Administrative Region and must enter mainland China from Macau. They must return to Macau within the validity period of the visa.
In order to reenter Macau, they must not have travelled anywhere in the 21 days prior, except to mainland China and Macau.
Prior to these new arrangement, TNRs and non-Macau residents were barred from entering Macau, meaning that once they left the city, they were not allowed to reenter.
In the same dispatch, the Chief Executive has also suspended the entry ban on these non-Macau residents.
Previously, residents of Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam were required to hold a Macau SAR visa in order to enter the city. The Chief Executive has also suspended the visa requirement on these foreign residents as long as they fit in the definitions of TNRs or non-Macau residents on legal passes, and also bear a special legal entry permission issued by the Macau government.
The dispatch is seen as a supplementary move as mainland China has resumed the applications of new visa to non-residents currently in Macau.
However, at yesterday’s weekly health press conference, Leong Iek Hou, coordinator at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was asked if these non-resident groups can enter Macau from other countries after spending 21 days in the mainland.
She was asked, for example, if a tourist can travel to Macau from Indonesia with a valid Chinese visa and undergoes a 21-day quarantine in the mainland. Leong stressed that the dispatch does not state that the doors are opened these travelers.
Leong explained that given the complementary statements in the dispatch, although these tourists do spend 21 days in mainland China, they will not meet the requirement of entering the mainland from Macau; neither will they meet the requirement of bearing a visa issued by the Macau Office of the Foreign Affairs Ministry Commissioner.

AstraZeneca has ‘greater
benefits than risks’
Several countries have suspended the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to blood clots in about three dozen recipients.
Dr Tai Wa Hou, coordinator of the Health Bureau’s Covid-19 Vaccination Operation, addressed the topic when he was asked about it, as Macau has also purchased 400,000 doses of the vaccine.
Tai pointed out that the health authorities in Europe have investigated the cases. According to him, they did not find any clear connection between the blood clots and the vaccine. “They have concluded that getting the AstraZeneca vaccine has greater benefits than risks,” Tai said.
Although he said the local health department will closely monitor the development, the introduction of the vaccine in Macau should go as planned for the time being.
In a recent severe adverse event following immunization (AEFI), a 69-year-old man has developed acute coronary syndrome after being vaccinated. The case was ruled out to be a side effect from the vaccine by the health authority.
Upon being asked why the authorities had reached a conclusion so quickly, Tai said the causality was determined through investigation. In contrast, some incidents happen whether or not the jab is administered.
“Matter of coincidence is the most debated type of AEFI,” Tai pointed out.
Regarding the 69-year-old resident, Tai attributed the cause of the AEFI to the patient’s own constitutional complications.
When questioned about the reliability of the pre-jab health assessment, Tai hinted that for the time being, the nine questions asked are sufficient to evaluate the risk level of a jab recipient. He stressed that if a person has to be completely healthy to qualify for the jab, nobody will be able to take it.