Education regulator cancels school resumption plans

The previously announced school resumption schedule has now been suspended and an announcement on new dates will be made in due course, the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) informed during yesterday’s daily press briefing.
According to the education regulator, the decision was made in order to safeguard health and lower the risk to local students.
The bureau’s original plan was to first restart lessons for Form 6 and Senior Secondary 3 students in the form of tuition classes, so as to assist them in their preparation for university admission.
With the restart being voluntary, concerned students and their parents have complete liberty in deciding if they will return to school.
Moreover, it was also announced previously that other education levels would resume in phases.
The plan is now back to square one, but the education regulator could not provide a new timetable as they were “constantly accessing the situation.”
Macau has seen seven new cases in the past five days, all imported. As global conditions deteriorate, many overseas Macau students are trying to return home.
The head of the Health Bureau (SSM), Lei Chin Ion, admitted that the returnees pose a risk to the city. The bureau is certain that more cases will arise in the coming days.
As it is against the Basic Law to ban the returnees from entering the region, it means that the SSM can only quarantine them, a measure that the authority is already enforcing.
About 800 overseas students have expressed their desire to return. In response to the quantity, the health regulator assured that Macau has enough equipment to handle potential cases, with the current measures in place.
“There are 232 beds in negative pressure isolation wards,” Lei said, adding that contingencies have been made should the situation deteriorate. The number of staff, on the other hand, are able to handle more cases than they are currently.
As all non-resident workers from outside of the greater China region have been banned from entering Macau, people are concerned about the size of the city’s workforce.
Lei stressed that it is important to mitigate potential risks. “The counts of Southeast Asian countries may not be as reliable as our country’s,” the health regulator said. He further explained that the number of new cases in these countries do not match the frequency of new cases in Macau, raising further doubts about their accuracy.
“Taking more non-resident workers in may not benefit employers necessarily,” he added, pointing out that the business at casinos and integrated resorts has not yet recovered, which means less labor is needed for the time being.
Some journalists accused the Macau government of discriminating against non-resident workers, but Lei insisted that there was no discrimination.
“Non-resident workers are covered by the government mask sale,” the doctor said, implying that the government has been addressing the needs of non-resident workers. Lei added that many countries are enacting entry bans on non-citizens in order to protect for locals.
“We should always prioritize services for local residents,” the bureau head continued. “It is our responsibility.”
Concerning some local residents who are overseas but are seeking to now return to Macau, one journalist at the press briefing claimed that some parents had said they are willing to bear the cost of a charter flight arranged by the government.
Inês Chan, an official from the Macao Government Tourism Office, described the difficulty of the operation, because these students are in various cities around the world. However, she expressed that these parents have the liberty of negotiating with airlines to charter a flight.

Level 2 travel warning extended worldwide

The Tourism Crisis Management Office (GGCT) announced last night that it was extending a Level 2 travel alert to all overseas countries and territories. The alert is advisory in nature does not prohibit outbound travel.
The GGCT said that the decision had been taken after seeking the input from the Macau Health Bureau and was largely based on public health consideration.
The local government continues to advise Macau residents against non-essential travel during this period. Residents who are currently overseas should pay attention to public announcements issued by the Macau Health Bureau. Meanwhile, information disclosed yesterday by the police authority showed that border crossings are on the decline.
The number of crossings fell slightly yesterday, with 36,000 inbound and 37,000 outbound, according to the Public Security Police Force, which oversees immigration matters in Macau. Crossings made by local residents still accounted for the majority, with 28,000 in and out respectively.
With new measures barring entry for those from outside Greater Chinese being enacted, border crossings made by visitors dropped by about 10% to 7,200 inbound crossings and 8,500 outbound crossings. DB/AL