Macau will allow visitors holding either mainland China passports, or visas pertaining to business, family visits or official matters, to receive tests for COVID-19 when entering the city as of Thursday. However, Guangdong Province is yet to ease its border controls, meaning visitors leaving Macau still need to undergo 14-day quarantine when entering Guangdong Province after being tested in Macau.
Nevertheless, the expansion of accepted testing groups indicates that Macau’s current testing ability is within a manageable range.
Macau currently has a daily virus test quota of 6,000, which allows all local residents, non-residents workers holding Zhuhai resident cards and qualified Chinese visitors to test for COVID-19.
Macau has not recorded any new cases for 35 days now, with 43 of its 45 patients recovered – leaving only two remaining patients in hospital.
However, Hong Kong broke its 23-day run without infection on Wednesday, with two new cases found within the community.
Macau’s health officials said the latest outbreak of the pandemic in Hong Kong will “definitely” affect current negotiations on reopening the border between Macau and Hong Kong.
With more residents returning to Macau this week, there are a total of 214 people undergoing quarantine in Pousada Marina Infante Hotel, including 130 locals, 32 non-residents and 52 visitors.