The Macau government will maintain its current daily quota of 1,000 people exempted from quarantine restrictions in Zhuhai only if the exemptions do not compromise public health measures, said Lo Iek Long, a clinical director at the Conde de São Januário Hospital.
The comment was made on Friday during the regular press conference organized by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center.
Since June 16, the local government has been receiving applications from Macau residents hoping to travel to Zhuhai without quarantine restrictions. In the first two days, more than 7,611 applications had been registered. Due to the large demand, the registration system was temporarily suspended.
On Thursday, the second day after the system reopened, registrations for the 1,000 allocations were full within three minutes. The local government rejected 570 applications.
Talking to the media, Lo disclosed that the local government has already realized that the current system is unsatisfactory as crowds fill up all allocated exemptions shortly after the system opens, and people with considerable needs for the exemption may not get a chance to register.
From Saturday, the system has been amended to open twice a day, once at 10 a.m. and once at 6 p.m.
Evaluators previously took up to two days to process a batch of applications. With the new arrangement, the reviewers will be required to examine all applications on the same day. The morning applications are expected to be processed before 6 p.m. and available allocations will be released for the afternoon opening. First time applicants will be given priority.
Talking about the exemption measure, Lo acknowledged that the policy may not permanently exist and may change based on the development of the Covid-19 situation in both places and on the behavior of successful applicants.
The exemption policy allows successful applicants to enter Zhuhai without having to undergo quarantine.
However, as of press time, some approved Macau residents were still encountering difficulties entering Zhuhai. In one instance, a few difficulties were experienced due to the inconsistencies in and ambiguity of mainland policies.
According to Lo, some exempted Macau residents were rejected entry to Zhuhai. The Zhuhai authority explained to the Macau government that there had been “a technical failure” on the Zhuhai side but that “problems were immediately solved.”
In addition to the exemption policy, the local government also provided other updates on Friday.
Macau’s current policies still require all flight passengers to be tested negative in the Covid-19 test.
On top of that, individuals are required to undergo medical observation should they fly in from Beijing, where a recent outbreak has been recorded. Two people are under medical observation in Macau due to travel to Beijing within the past 14 days.
Yesterday was the 73rd consecutive day with no new Covid-19 cases recorded in Macau.
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