The Macau government has announced the closure of all public services on the 30th and 31st January to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and reduce the possibility of transmissions.
This measure is applied to 32,000 people working in the public service and social security of Macau.
Public services are closed since Monday due to Chinese New Year holidays.
Banking sector also said that all banks would remain closed until next Monday.
The announcement was made by the Secretary for Administration and Justice, André Cheong during a press conference where he also called on private companies to follow the government’s decision and temporarily close down their facilities.
André Cheong asked employees to stay at home and not go to areas where there are concentrations of people in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Macau.
Civil servants returning to work on February 3 must inform the respective services if they had been in Wuhan province or Wuhan city. If so, they should stay at home for another 14 days in isolation. Public services were closed from Monday to Wednesday (27,28 and 29) due to the Chinese New Year.
At the press conference, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Ao Ieong U also announced that official government-subsidised daycare centers are closed as of today and asked private daycare centers to accompany the official decision.
Ieong U reaffirmed that schools are closed until next week and said that a decision on their re-opening will be taken in due course.
The secretary also said that measures have been taken by the six gaming operators to create special transportation services for their non-resident workers so that they can move between Macau and the neighbouring municipality of Zhuhai where most of them reside. These transportation services will operate across the Lotus border.
After special measures were taken to control the entry of residents of Hubei and Wuhan province, police authorities announced today that no resident of that province had entered Macau since Monday and that today 1,147 have left the territory.
Health services confirmed today that 7 cases of coronavirus have been detected in Macau since the outbreak of the epidemic, 108 of suspected cases, of which 88 were excluded, and 15 in the testing phase and 16 in isolation.
Over 100 flights to the mainland and Taiwan have been axed since Sunday over Wuhan virus scare. Only 12 departures and 11 arrivals have been cancelled today.
The government also announced in a statement Tuesday that all ferry services between Macau and Kowloon and Tuen Moon in the New Territories will be suspended from Thursday.
The ferry link between Macau and the Shun Tak Centre terminal on Hong Kong Island will continue for the time being.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) announced today that its headquarters in the UNESCO World Heritage-protected ex-Leal Senado building will be closed to the public as a precautionary measures from tomorrow. The building is popular with tourists.
The government today also reaffirmed in a statement that there is no need for panic buying as Macau has “sufficient” supply of foodstuffs such as cooking oil, cereals and canned foods. The statement stressed that government inspectors are checking up on the supply situation in retail outlets twice a day.
