Hotel quarantine shortened to two weeks for Macau residents

The Health Bureau has just announced that from March 28, all entrants from non-mainland Chinese locations will have their quarantine period shortened to 14 days, although health self-management for seven days is still necessary following the two weeks.

Public health doctor Leong Iek Hou, a division chief at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced the easing of the restriction today (Thursday) at the weekly health press briefing.

After concluding two weeks of centralized quarantine at designated hotels, these people will have their health codes turned yellow, indicating that they can only travel within Macau with restrictions. In addition, they will not be allowed to travel to mainland China.

During the seven-day self-management period, they are required to take SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid tests (NATs) on the first, second, fourth and seventh days. Failing to do so will result in their health codes turning red, blocking them technically from traveling within the city. To unlock their codes, those who missed any test will need to get a negative NAT result in order to have their codes restored to yellow.

Although the local government has not lifted its entry ban on foreign citizens, this measure applies to Macau residents coming from abroad.

The decision to shorten the centralized quarantine period was suddenly announced, despite the government’s recent emphasis on the risk of a possible outbreak in Macau.

MDT

(Developing story)