Macau’s easing of quarantine measures depends on mainland

The decision to adjust the number of days of quarantine under medical observation in Macau depends ultimately on the analysis and decision of the Central government regarding the situation in those areas, the local coordinator of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Leong Iek Hou said during yesterday’s press briefing from the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center.

Questioned on the new rule established by the government of Hong Kong which amended the medical observation to ‘3+4’ (three days in a quarantine hotel plus four days of health self-management), Leong said that Macau is not, for the time being, reducing the current ‘7+3’ quarantine, noting that the easing of border restrictions depends on the situation in the local jurisdiction.

“Macau and Hong Kong have never closed the borders completely and currently people from Macau can enjoy entering Hong Kong without the need for quarantine. Still, the reverse is not possible yet and people arriving from Hong Kong in Macau still need to follow the ‘7+3’ rule. We are communicating constantly and following up on the new cases in each region and area,” she said.

“A full exemption of quarantine between Macau and Hong Kong would be conditional on the situation in three places, Macau, Hong Kong, and mainland China. For this to happen, the situation of Covid-19 on all sides needs to be similar. If Hong Kong reaches the point where it can [fully] reopen its border with the mainland, Macau will follow,” she added. 

Although the new rule in Hong Kong maintains the number of days of medical observation as a total of seven, the focus has now shifted to a larger percentage of days for health self-management with the number of days in a quarantine hotel unit now reduced by one.

Yesterday, Hong Kong leader John Lee announced that the city will reduce the mandatory hotel quarantine for overseas arrivals to three days from a week.

The southern Chinese city remains one of the few places in the world, together with mainland China and Macau, to require a quarantine to guard against travelers spreading Covid-19 to the local population. The policy taking effect Friday will be Hong Kong’s shortest quarantine for arrivals since the pandemic began.

Lee said arriving travelers must quarantine three days in a designated hotel, then undergo four days of medical surveillance during which their movements will be restricted via the use of a health code system.

Lee said the new policy of just three days in quarantine was made after scientific evidence and data had been analyzed to control the risk factors, as cited in a report issued by the Associated Press.