Zhuhai policy mistake inconveniences Macau workers across the border

On Monday, Zhuhai residents who work in Macau but reside in Zhuhai were finally able to return to Macau for work.
These residents were told they only required four documents in hand: the Zhuhai resident document, the Macau work document (typically a blue card), a negative Covid-19 test result, and their travel card.
However, despite the policies explicitly outlining these conditions, some qualified workers found that would not be able to circumvent the quarantine after all.
Before Monday, the China Employment Agency Association was entrusted to inform concerned Zhuhai residents of the conditions. After qualified Zhuhai residents filled out the form and submitted it to the association, it was found that some of these residents had not been “selected” for publication on a special list. That meant that they could not be exempted from Zhuhai’s 14-day quarantine policy after all.
According to Zhuhai’s policy, a person who meets the abovementioned conditions will be exempted from the quarantine. However, entrusting the association to make a list has inconvenienced some Zhuhai residents.
The association told these qualified Zhuhai residents that, even if they met the requirements, they would have to be enlisted by the association in order to be exempted.
Later, on Monday, after many qualified Zhuhai residents requested an explanation for the association’s “list”, the association acknowledged that it had made a mistake.
Zhuhai’s tendency to announce new policies overnight has troubled both Zhuhai and Macau residents, both now and in the past.
In March, the Guangdong government suddenly announced the 14-day mandatory quarantine policy. The sudden announcement caused issues for many Macau residents who live in Zhuhai because many of them did not have a temporary residence card issued by Zhuhai government. Only Macau residents with a Zhuhai residence card are eligible for the exemption.
Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak also considered this particular policy “rushed” and “not very clear.”
“We fully understand mainland China because, there, they need multiple ‘layers’ of approvals to implement a policy,” said Wong, adding that “we hoped they could have tried to provide us with more information on time.”
In addition to the above, Zhuhai’s entry policies have been criticized for being discriminatory and representing a double standard, because Zhuhai gave exemptions to Macau residents in late March in respect of the quarantine requirements, but exemptions were not granted to Zhuhai residents until Monday.