Travellers heading to Macao from foreign countries, Hong Kong or Taiwan are no longer required to present any Covid-19 vaccination certificates starting from today.
The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre said that arrivals from foreign countries, Hong Kong and Taiwan will still be subject to nucleic acid testing (NAT) and hotel quarantine requirements.
Currently, all those departing for Macao from foreign countries must present a NAT certificate confirming a negative Covid-19 result valid for 48 hours when boarding a Macao-bound flight.
All travellers from Hong Kong or Taiwan must present a negative Covid-19 result valid for just 24 hours when boarding a shuttle bus from Hong Kong or a flight from Taiwan.
Currently, all arrivals from foreign countries, Hong Kong or Taiwan must undergo seven days of hotel quarantine plus three days of self-health management.
Before today, over-12s headed to Macao from foreign countries, Hong Kong or Taiwan needed to present a certificate confirming that they had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 at least 14 days prior, that is having developed basic full immunity, or a doctor’s certificate confirming that their condition rendered them unsuitable to be inoculated against the novel coronavirus for a period of over two months.
In addition, travellers aged 18 or over who received the last required shot of their basic-full-immunity Covid-19 vaccinations over seven months prior also needed to present a certificate confirming that they had received at least one Covid-19 booster jab.
Only travellers headed to Macao from mainland China have never been covered by the government’s mandatory Covid-19 inoculation requirement.
Last night’s statement underlined that the government’s decision to no longer require arrivals from Covid-19 high-risk countries and regions to present a vaccination certificate does not mean that “Covid-19 inoculations are no longer important”.
Instead, the Centre said, the government has decided to lift its Covid-19 vaccination requirement for arrivals after considering that the vast majority of travellers had met its novel coronavirus inoculation requirement. The Centre said that a continuation of requiring those departing for Macao to display a Covid-19 vaccination certificate will cause them unnecessary inconvenience.
According to the Health Bureau, as of last night, Macao’s Covid-19 tally stood at 793 confirmed and 1,455 asymptomatic cases, 785 and 1,349 of which had meanwhile been cured. The death toll remained at six.
As of yesterday, 620,567 people had been vaccinated in Macao. The number of vaccinations stood at 1.47 million.
