Foreign racers have arrived and are undergoing quarantine

An undisclosed number of foreign racers who will take part in this year’s Macau Grand Prix have already arrived in Macau and are undergoing the mandatory 7+3 quarantine period, the coordinator of the Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee (MGPOC) and Sports Bureau president, Pun Weng Kun said yesterday during a press conference on the GP traffic arrangements.

According to Pun, over 150 racers will participate in this year’s event, from which “more than 10 are participants in the Motorcycle GP event,” he said. There are also other foreign racers who will join the event in the “touring cars” categories.

According to information provided late last week by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) representative to the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre, Lau Fong Chi, there are around 60 people among racers, team members, and other staff from the GP who need to undergo quarantine.

On Saturday, around 50 of these people were already undergoing quarantine in Macau, she said during the press briefing from the Centre.

Pun also said that a large number of the over 150 racers participating in this year’s GP are from Macau but also from Hong Kong and mainland China. He added that among the foreigners, most of them come from different European countries and are already in quarantine. All are in good health and with no positive cases to note.

As the Times learned, most of the motorcycle riders arrived in Macau last Friday and Saturday. They are currently on their fifth or sixth quarantine day and it is expected that they will be out from the quarantine hotel before the GP official inauguration ceremony takes place at the Tap Seac Square this Saturday (November 12).

MGPOC not aware of ticket sale numbers

Questioned on the topic by the media, Pun said that at the moment the organizers do not have a precise figure on the number of tickets that have already been sold to spectators for the GP event.

According to Pun, the sales “only started around 10 days ago so it is too early to provide a result,” he said, adding that it should be similar to previous years.

Pun said that to comply with pandemic prevention guidelines, spectators will have to have their temperature checked before entering the GP venue and will also have to scan the venue location QR code and wear a facemask at all times.