Mail quarantined 70-hours before distribution

All incoming mail will be quarantined in the indoor parking lot of the Macao Post and Telecommunications Bureau (CTT) for 70 hours before being distributed, a spokesperson of the bureau announced yesterday.

Under the coordination of the Government Information Bureau, the CTT demonstrated the process by which all incoming packages are sanitized.

Wong San San, division chief for public relations and central archive of the CTT, told the press that even though all mail will be sanitized at the border checkpoints upon arrival in Macau, they will be still be held at the parking lot for sanitization.

The parking lot is located at the CTT Building near the Transport Bureau headquarters.

The exterior wrapping and packaging of the mail – both parcels and documents – will be sanitized at the parking lot before remaining there for 48 hours. Wong said this is the second phase of the sanitization process.

In the third phase of sanitization, the exterior wrapping and packaging will be cut open so that individual mailing units can be sanitized.

During the sanitization process the contracted cleaners will spread sanitizing liquid on all sides of each mailing unit.

The process was introduced in the second half of January, having received recommendations from the Health Bureau and following guidelines from the mainland’s post office, Wong explained.

As the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) conducts SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid spot checks on incoming cargo, Wong was asked if the CTT conducts the same procedure. She restated that the bureau conducts sanitization on all incoming mail, before confirming that no nucleic acid spot checks are done.

Wong revealed that on average, the city receives 3,000 to 4,000 mail packages monthly. Compared to pre-Covid figures, the number of packages received recorded a single-digit decrease.