Macau’s Health Bureau Director, Lo Iek Long, said Monday that the SAR might implement mass virus testing for its entire population depending on the latest developments in Guangzhou and Foshan.
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, Macau authorities announced on the weekend a raft of new border restrictions due to rising COVID-19 case numbers in parts of neighboring Guangdong Province, including a requirement for all arrivals to provide a negative test result obtained within the past 48 hours. Arrivals to have visited certain districts in either Guangzhou and Foshan inside the past two weeks must also enter hotel quarantine for 14 days.
Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre conducted more than 5,000 tests on Monday on individuals who have been to Guangzhou or Foshan in the past 14 days, with all caming back negative.
However, as the situation in the two cities remains unpredictable, the Macau SAR Government may implement mass virus testing for the entire population of around 650,000 people should there be any evidence of cases within the local community.
Lo said such a testing regime could be completed within four days.
Under Macau’s latest COVID-19 restrictions, anyone crossing into Macau from Zhuhai must follow the latest measures starting Tuesday morning by providing a negative test result obtained within the past 48 hours. This covers Gongbei Border, Hengqin Border, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge entry point, Wangzai Port, the border at the Cross Border Industrial Area and the two ferry terminals.
Those arriving by air need only show a negative result obtained within the past seven days.
More than 100 cases of locally acquired COVID-19 have been detected in Guangzhou city, Shenzhen city, Foshan city and other areas in the province since the start of June, with Guangdong Province itself implementing stricter policies in order to curb the flow of people throughout the province.
Any individuals wanting to leave Guangzhou and Foshan must obtain a negative virus test result within the past 48 hours while large-scale virus testing is being conducted in several districts.
