Macau health authorities ask Zhuhai to investigate reports of fraudulent Covid-19 certificates

Claims on the internet that it is possible to acquire fake medical certificates in Zhuhai attesting to negative Covid-19 results has raised concerns from health authorities in Macau.
Yesterday, during the daily press conference at the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center, the authorities said that they are aware of the claims and that they are following up on the case through their Zhuhai counterparts.
Questioned on the topic by the media, Dr Alvis Lo, and Dr Leong Iek Hou, reaffirmed that local authorities are seeking information from Zhuhai authorities verify the claims.
“We are aware of the news and we are following up on the matter,” Lo said. “But we cannot act on the other side of the border. We are waiting for the Zhuhai authorities to investigate and ascertain if these reports are true.”
According to the representative of the Conde de São Januário Hospital Center, if it is confirmed that such medical certificates are being forged, “the Zhuhai counterparties will act to tackle them.”
He added that, for the time being, the local authorities have not yet been updated on the veracity of such reports.
Adding to Lo’s reply, Leong said that the Macau authorities have already requested clarification of the situation from their counterparts in Zhuhai.
Nevertheless, Leong admitted that the local authorities do not know what the alleged forged certificates look like.
“We do not know what these ‘fake’ certificates look like. So far we have been able to verify all certificates [presented] and we have not detected any forged certificates,” she concluded.
Lo took the opportunity to clarify the new measure which came into effect on Sunday, allowing people with Covid-19 negative nucleic acid tests to cross in and out of Macau on the provision that they must stay under medical observation for up to 24 hours until the result of the test is known.
Lo explained that the measure has not changed, but clarified that the day of the sample collection for testing is not included in the seven days of the test’s validity.
“At the moment we can see that many people are crossing the border between Zhuhai and Macau but some of the institutions might not be able to provide the test result in just a few hours. We decided that people without results need to wait in medical observation,” adding that if these people are not subjected to such restrictions, “they would start circulating and that could compromise the public health on both the sides [of the border].”
He also explained that the 24-hour period is “the longest time we can expect for the result to be known,” and clarified that as soon as a person is notified of a negative result, the person can be immediately discharged from observation and continue with their travels.
Lo explained that the seven days of validity of each test, only starts from the time the result is known, refuting the idea that the medical observation period would reduce the time each nucleic acid test performed was considered valid.

More students wish to return for summer holidays

Around 80% of the requests received by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) from residents hoping to return to Macau are from students who wish to return for their summer holidays, the MGTO representative at the center, Inês Chan said.
According to the official, the majority of the requests are from those who wish to return during the months of July and August.
However, “we do not know yet if [returning to Macau at these times] will be possible or how, because it has to do with the policies of the airline companies and also the measures in force in the places where they are.”
“For those in South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia, we have already managed to solve the problem of the requirements for nucleic acid tests, but for other regions and countries we need to follow up on their updates.” RM