Health authorities announce that from Saturday, December 17, individuals arriving from Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas will be allowed to quarantine at home.
In a press release, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre says that starting on December 17, “the preventive measures for persons entering the Macau Special Administrative Region from the Hong Kong, Taiwan and foreign countries will be enhanced by changing the five-day centralized medical observation in isolation and three-day home medical observation in isolation to a five-day home medical observation in isolation and a three-day departure restriction”.
Individuals travelling to Macau need a negative report of nucleic acid test for novel coronavirus valid for 48 hours after the date of sampling and an appropriate amount of rapid antigen test kit per person. However, the booking of a medical observation hotel in Macau is not required and no pre-payment for a nucleic acid test is required.
After entry into Macau, incoming travellers are not allowed to travel to the Mainland for eight days.
After entry, the “Macau Health Code” will be changed to a red code. Only after taking a sample of the nucleic acid test on arrival at the port of entry, incoming arrivals will be able to leave for a rented hotel or their accommodation.
Rapid antigen testing will be conducted and results uploaded daily for 3 consecutive days from the day after entry.
After uploading the negative rapid antigen test result on the 3rd day from the day of entry, the “Macau Health Code” will be changed to a yellow code and individuals should make an appointment for a single sample nucleic acid test at a community nucleic acid station on that day, otherwise the “Macau Health Code” will be changed to a red code.
On the 4th and 5th days from the day of entry, the Macau Health Code will continue to be tested daily for rapid antigen; after 2 consecutive days of negative rapid antigen testing, the Macau Health Code will be changed to Green.
If the rapid antigen test or nucleic acid test result is positive during the above process, the “Macau Health Code” will be changed to a red code and the infected person will be required to take home isolation measures, according to the prevailing protocol.
The adjusted measures apply to those who enter Macau on or after December 17 and those who are currently under intensive isolation medical observation. The Health Bureau and the Tourism Bureau will arrange for the discharge of these persons from the medical observation hotel in batches on December 17, or they may stay at the original medical observation hotel to complete the home isolation medical observation at their own expense. Those who leave the Medical Observation Hotel early on December 17 will be subject to the above-mentioned home confinement medical observation measures. Refunds for hotel and nucleic acid testing fees paid by incoming and prospective entrants will be arranged by the respective hotels and nucleic acid testing facilities.
Lastly, the above adjustments do not affect the current restrictions on the entry of certain categories of persons for epidemic prevention reasons, i.e. persons who are currently required to apply to the Health Bureau for entry for epidemic prevention reasons are still required to do so. The measures will be adjusted shortly in accordance with the needs of epidemic prevention. Holders of Chinese passports, Exit-entry Permits for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau or Mainland Residents’ Exit-entry Permits for Travelling to and from Taiwan who need to travel to the Mainland after entry may apply for an extension of stay until the 9th day from the day of entry.
