The 14-day quarantine measure set out by the government for foreign workers who have been to mainland China will not affect visitors from the region that want to enter the SAR.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has long been adamant about not closing the city’s borders with China, despite the growing number of cases of the novel coronavirus or Covid-19 in the mainland. Ho argued that Macau had not banned any visitors from Hong Kong during the SARS outbreak in 2003.
Despite the continuous operation of the border checkpoints, the SAR still recorded an 80% slump in its mainland China tourist arrivals over the Chinese New Year as the Chinese central government suspended issuance of individual visit scheme for visitors to come to Macau. This month, visitor arrivals are understood to have fallen even further.
Although the new measure – which targets all foreign workers who have been to mainland China in the past 14 days – will not affect mainland Chinese tourists, it is still highly unlikely that a large number of visitors will come to Macau as the individual visit scheme is still suspended.
The Chinese government still bans overseas tours and the purchase of flights and hotels abroad, calling on travel agencies to suspend package tourists, which represent more than half of outbound travel.
This means that, aside from a few remaining channels, there are not many ways for mainland tourists to obtain entry permits to Macau.
Photos and videos circulated yesterday showed groups of Chinese residents – with suitcases and large-sized iconic red-white-blue bags – entering Macau from the Border Gate at Portas do Cerco, which implies that they opted to enter the region immediately before the 14-day quarantine measure comes into effect.
Starting from tomorrow, non-resident workers coming from the mainland will be required to undergo a 14-day quarantine in Zhuhai.
When foreign workers try to enter Macau from elsewhere or are not able to obtain the medical certificate mentioned, they will either be sent back to the origin of their journey or undergo quarantine in designated venues in Macau under the monitoring of the Health Bureau.
This measure is set to discourage foreign workers from regularly crossing the border as this undermines epidemic prevention and control efforts in the city.
Previously, the government encouraged local employers to find temporary lodging in the SAR for their workers from Zhuhai to reduce the risk of a further coronavirus outbreak among those commuting between the two cities.
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