Macau only opens to Hong Kong after Beijing’s green light

The Chief Executive, Ho Iat Seng, said yesterday that it was only after China considered Hong Kong as a safe destination that Macau would open doors to the neighboring region, easing the restrictions on circulation imposed following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As soon as the country considers that Hong Kong is of low risk, we will then follow the strategies,” said Ho Iat Seng.

To the journalists, on the sidelines of the official reception on October 1, the Chief Executive thus departed from stipulating how long Hong Kong needs to be without new cases of the new type of coronavirus for the opening to be automatic.

Currently, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai Bridge appears as a single form of connection to Hong Kong, since the maritime routes between the two regions have been suspended since February.

Macau requires anyone arriving from Hong Kong not only to have a negative test of COVID-19, but to comply with 14 days of quarantine, with the former British colony imposing similar measures on those arriving from Macau.

Hong Kong’s boats were, moreover, a means of transport that “brought many tourists”, as the Chief Executive acknowledged.

The fact that China fully resumed issuing tourism visas (individuals and groups) to Macau on 23 September created expectations for ‘Golden Week’, but Ho Iat Seng prefers to have no illusions about the number of tourists: “It is very difficult to navigate, but it is certainly not going to be [a scenario] very ideal.”

Este artigo está disponível em: Português