When the Inner Harbor Ferry Terminal reopens to the public tomorrow, it will contain a special isolated area to separate suspected pneumonic cases of the newly-emerged coronavirus infection. The special area was unveiled yesterday during a local media tour of the immigration facilities at the terminal, conducted by representatives from the Macao Customs Service, the Public Security Police Force (PSP) and the Municipal Affairs Bureau.
A government official told the media yesterday about the special measures at the terminal to cope with the Wuhan pneumonia situation.
Inside the ferry terminal there is an isolation area and a body temperature monitoring station. When any person is suspected of having Wuhan pneumonia symptoms, the captain of the ferry will inform the ferry transportation management center, which in turn will take measures to handle the case.
The center will then inform other departments at the Inner Harbor Ferry Terminal in accordance with the Health Bureau’s (SSM) instructions.
When a passenger has visited Wuhan within the 14 days prior to their arrival at the terminal, SSM staff will board the ferry to assess the health of that person. If the person is not confirmed to be free of the infection of Wuhan pneumonia, then they will be put into the isolation area waiting to be transported to hospital.
In addition, the local government has set up three-tier human traffic control measures in three areas – green, yellow and red – to separate visitors.
The green area can accommodate a maximum of 215 people, the yellow will hold 150, and the red area can handle 10 people. Only when the green area is full will the yellow area will be open for the visitors, and so on for the red area.
A PSP representative explained that a total of 290 people can currently be accepted at one time at the ferry terminal departure and dock area.
The Wanzai Port will officially reopen tomorrow with a maximum immigration capacity of 3,840 crossings per hour.
The arrival hall on Macau’s side will consist of six e-crossing channels and two manual channels. Another three back-up manual channels will be available inside a visa office. In total, these channels are expected to register an average of 1,710 crossings on an hourly basis.
The new port will be open for 15 hours per day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., meaning that on a daily basis the port can absorb approximately 50,000 crossings, or a maximum of about 18.25 million crossings per year.
To transport passengers between Macau and Zhuhai, the mainland ferry company Yuet Tung will arrange one ferry every 15 minutes, amounting to four ferries every hour. In total, there will be 110 ferries running during the opening hours.
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