Covid-19: Macau reopens borders to all foreigners

By Catarina Domingues

All foreigners can enter Macau Sunday, local authorities announced today, putting an end to a measure of the prevention and containment of the pandemic implemented almost three years ago.

“The measures limiting the entry of people with a foreign passport to Macau are eliminated (..), that is, the entry measures will once again be those applied before 2019, before covid-19,” said the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong U, at a press conference.

The official also noted that, as of Sunday, “health management control measures are eliminated” at the entrance to the territory.

In addition, anyone arriving in the administrative region from abroad – with the exception of Hong Kong and Taiwan – must present “a certificate of rapid antigen test or nucleic acid test for covid-19 with a negative result performed within 48 hours,” she said.

All passengers arriving in the territory and wanting to enter mainland China within seven days are also required to present a test certificate within 48 hours.

Macau closed its borders to foreigners without resident status in March 2020. In April last year, the territory lifted border restrictions on Filipino workers, university students and foreign teaching professionals, such as Portuguese teachers. The exemption was later extended to workers from Indonesia.

In May, the region approved the entry of all Portuguese non-residents in the territory, as well as foreign spouses and minor children of local residents.

Four months later, non-resident workers and family members of residents, as well as travelers from 41 countries, were allowed to enter.

Macau, which like the interior of China followed the ‘zero covid’ policy, betting on mass testing, confinement of risk zones and quarantines, announced in early December the cancellation of most prevention and containment measures,after nearly three years of strict restrictions.

Until January 4, 2023, 250,000 people, that is, 37% of the local population, confirmed through an online platform to be infected, highlighted the secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, pointing out, however, that there were those who did not declare the disease, therefore, the number of people affected “could be higher.”

“According to our monitoring and our estimates, we consider that 70% of workers and professionals in the health system have been infected. As for students, we have about 50% to 60% and teachers about 70%, so those infected in the of the total population of Macau are around 60% to 70%.” she said.

According to Macau Health Services, 63 people have died from covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

With infomation from MSN