Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre has confirmed that the Individual Visit Scheme under which individuals can travel freely from mainland China to Macau is currently continuing as usual.
However, the scheme may be suspended once again should even a single case of locally acquired COVID-19 be detected in the Macau community.
Rumors that the mainland government would suspend IVS have been spreading across social media in recent days following the detection of more than 50 positive cases in Guangzhou and Shenzhen over the past week.
“The ‘circuit breaker’ of our entry policy has two levels,” explained Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Ao Ieong U, on Monday.
“The middle-risk level indicates that if Macau reports local infections, it will restrict individuals living in impacted areas from leaving the city. Once local infections are over 10, the ‘circuit breaker’ would halt all the entrance and exit in Macau.”
Ao Ieong also emphasized that Hong Kong is yet to reach its mandatory requirement for the removal of quarantine measures on visiting Macau, with Macau having previously stated that its fellow SAR must reach 14 consecutive days without a single case of locally acquired COVID-19 before such restrictions could be eased.
