Gov’t to open special quarantine hotel

Treasure hotel (right)

The government is set to open a new type of hotel designated for medical observation in December to accommodate arrivals from high-risk foreign countries who are required to undergo a 21-day quarantine.
The Treasure Hotel, which is currently undergoing maintenance and renovations, will be the first hotel to open under this new category of specialized hotels for medical observation.
Following the renovations, the property is expected to reopen on December 1.
Currently, the only group of people who will be subject to quarantine in the new specialized hotel category will be those flying in from Singapore, who are now classified as second tier high-risk individuals.
Dr Leong Iek Hou, coordinator of the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center, explained that individuals arriving from different countries will be assigned to different medical observation facilities, depending on the high-risk levels of the country.
There are now three types of quarantine hotels: designated hotels, selected hotels, and the newly added specialized hotels. Different medical observation measures will apply in each type of hotel, including the frequency of nucleic acid tests which will be higher in the specialized hotels as compared to the designated hotels.
Designated hotels will be open for reservations from November 15.
Meanwhile, from November 20, those planning to enter Macau will have to present their hotel reservation confirmation for medical observation before boarding their plane or shuttle bus to Macau, announced Liz Lam, head of public relations at the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), at yesterday’s press conference at the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center.
This measure applies to both residents and non-residents who are subject to quarantine in Macau.
From December 1, non-residents of Macau arriving from Taiwan will have the option of selecting a hotel to undergo their required medical observation. Currently, these arrivals are required to undergo quarantine at the Grand Coloane Resort.

No vaccine card for third vaccine doses
Health authorities have said that no vaccine card will be issued upon receipt of a third dose. Currently, those who have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine are issued with a card stating the vaccine type and date administered. A vaccine card was issued because it was universally agreed at the time that two doses were required for complete vaccination. This is not the case for the third vaccine dose, so individuals who receive the third dose will instead be issued a paper certificate. The Health Bureau announced last week that a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine will be administered in Macau

Itinerary app under development
The Health Bureau is developing a mobile application for the Macau health code which will record each individual’s travel history. In response to a media inquiry about how the current link will work when the new application is ready to use, Dr Leong said that whether the online health code link stays operational will depend on how widely the new health code application is used. Staff reporter