Health declaration required for Korean tourists

As of last Saturday, the Health Bureau has ordered all inbound Korean visitors to fill out declaration forms on health conditions upon arriving at the city’s immigration checkpoints. The authority has also deployed staff to hand out flyers on Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) symptoms to Korean travelers as part of its preventive campaign against the highly infectious flu, which has already become rampant in South Korea with 12 more infection cases confirmed over the weekend. The government continues to urge local citizens to observe proper hygiene and stay away from the affected country where MERS-related casualties are still on the rise.

Hac Sa Youth Hostel temporarily closed

The Hac Sa Youth Hostel will be temporarily closed to the public until further notice, following the Health Bureau’s requisition of the hostel, located in Coloane, to build a quarantine camp. The Health Bureau had previously said it would be using the youth hostel as a quarantine venue in the event of an epidemic, including MERS. Meanwhile, an isolation center on Coloane’s mountaintop is being rebuilt and is expected to commence operations in the third quarter of this year.

Residential mortgage loans decrease

The number of new residential mortgage loans (RMLs) approved by Macau banks in April reached MOP4.4 billion, representing a month-to-month decrease of 11.7 percent, revealed figures released by the Monetary Authority of Macau. 94.6 percent of RMLs were granted to Macau residents.  In terms of value, new RMLs granted to residents and to non-residents decreased by 10.7 percent and 25.1 percent respectively. The number of commercial real estate loans (CRELs) dropped by 5.3 percent month-to-month to reach MOP9.2 billion, 84.9 percent of which was granted to residents. In terms of value, new CRELs granted to residents decreased 17.7 percent, while those granted to non-residents increased 517.1 percent.