Macau’s health authority will turn its attention to vaccinating casino workers this week, with over 15,000 residents having already received their COVID-19 vaccinations as of Monday 1 March.
The SAR has now received 600,000 doses of vaccines, including 500,000 Sinopharm vaccines imported from mainland China and 100,000 BioNTech vaccines. Over 35,000 residents have registered to receive the vaccine so far.
Vaccinations using BioNTech vaccines will start from 3 March, allowing residents aged 60 and above to receive their shots.
The Health Bureau had contacted several departments, schools and social service agencies to conduct mass vaccinations in the first phase and it now plans to contact gaming concessionaires to start the vaccination of gaming workers as part of its second stage. However, the actual date to start those vaccinations has not yet been decided.
In the meantime, COVID-19 virus testing continues to become more accessible in Macau, with the number of testing points open to the public now up to five and daily testing numbers at around 27,000. The cost of crossing the Macau-mainland China border has also further lowered: the fee to receive a COVID-19 virus test has fallen from MOP$100 to MOP$90 in Macau, and from RMB$75 to RMB$50 in Zhuhai.