Health Bureau mulls shortening quarantine duration
Local health authorities are considering lowering the number of days of mandatory quarantine for people arriving from some foreign countries and regions, Dr. Leong Iek Hou, coordinator at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said yesterday in a reply to a media inquiry.
Questioned once again on the current disparities in the quarantine length applied to people arriving from abroad (21 days) when compared to those arriving from the neighboring region of Hong Kong (14 days plus seven days of health self-management), Leong said that the measures regarding quarantine are dynamic and undergo constant changes as the Covid-19 pandemic progresses.
The official said that the authorities are considering reducing some of the time of quarantine under medical observation upon arrival in Macau according to the pandemic situation of the source region, hinting that some of the countries and regions currently targeted with a 21 day quarantine period might also move into the 14 days plus seven days of health self-management category, as happens to those returning from Hong Kong.
“Before, people returning from Hong Kong had to undergo only 14 days. Now, due to the severity of the situation in the region, we added seven more days of strict health self-management. The reason we have the 21 days quarantine for foreign countries and regions is that the situation of the pandemic is also very serious in those places. But we are considering, according to the changes in those places, reducing some of those from 21 days to 14 plus seven,” she said.
Leong also noted that, in the past, returnees from Hong Kong would have to undergo only four nucleic acid tests (NAT) during the 14 days. Now they must be tested daily during the quarantine time and also do four extra NATs during the seven days of self-management.
Nonetheless, she also admitted during the same press briefing, and in reply to another media inquiry, that the average incubation time for infection with the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is “from three to five days,” she said, adding, “rarely is [it] above that and only in very extreme and rare cases [has it] passed over 14 days.”
