Euro travelers added to expansive quarantine list

All travelers who have been to Europe’s Schengen Area in the past 14 days will be required to undergo monitored quarantine at Pousada Marina Infante starting this Tuesday, the Health Bureau has announced.

The Schengen Area is an area comprising 26 European states that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. The Area is slightly different from the European Union, with five members from the latter not part of the Schengen Agreement.

Countries within the area include some of the largest and most populous on the continent, such as the Germany, France, Italy and Spain. All four of these countries have reported a surge in Covid-19 cases in recent days.

The 26 Schengen Area countries are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Although not part of the Schengen Area, Russia is also on the list. The eastern European country earlier barred mainland Chinese from entering. Visitors from the United Kingdom, also not a part of the Schengen Area, will also be required to face new quarantine measures when entering the Macau SAR.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States of America, Canada and Brazil are on the list of highly infected areas. Egypt is currently the only African country on the list. In addition, Australia is the only country from Oceania on the list.

The list of highly infected areas has expanded significantly over the weekend with the addition of all Schengen States. Before this update, Italy, Germany, France and Spain – all Schengen States – were already included in the list. In addition, South Korea, Japan and Iran are included.

All in all, people who have been to the aforementioned countries in the past 14 days will be required to undergo quarantine at their own cost upon entry into Macau.

Local residents have the option to undergo quarantine in their homes, if certain requirements regarding separation from other household inhabitants are met. If they are required to conduct quarantine at the Pousada, the government will bear the cost.

Neighboring Hong Kong is about to tighten its immigration rules on arrivals from the Schengen Area too. As many Macau residents use Hong Kong as a transfer point on their way back to the city, the Macau government has already made arrangements to fetch them directly from the Hong Kong airport using chartered vehicles.

The Macau government has previously conducted a similar operation to retrieve Macau residents returning from South Korea, who were banned from entering Hong Kong.

Macau students studying abroad have already been affected by the upcoming measures. The new quarantine measures were applied to students returning to Macau on Saturday. The Health Bureau explained that the student returnees have spent a longer time and met with more people in the affected areas, compared with tourists from Macau.

On the other hand, they should only make the trip back when they are certain about the safety of the trip, the Higher Education Bureau (DSES) has reiterated.

Upon arrival in Macau, they will need to be quarantined for 14 days, while medical examination may be carried out on them.

Once any respiratory symptom is detected following their arrival in Macau, they will be sent immediately to the Conde São Januário Hospital for medical consultation, regardless of their nationality.

The DSES estimates there may be about 1,000 Macau students currently at institutions within the Schengen Area. AL