People arriving in Macao from Taiwan, Hong Kong and foreign countries will not be assigned red health codes from today, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre has announced. This regulation spells the end of the quarantine in Macao after almost three years.
When individuals’ codes are red, it means they are not allowed to leave their homes or hotel rooms. Starting today, arrivals’ health codes will turn yellow which stands for self-health management (meaning individuals can leave their homes, potentially go to work – subject to their employers – and more). Incoming travellers will still be required to undergo a nucleic acid test (NAT) within 72 hours of boarding a flight, ship or vehicle to Macao however.
Upon arrival, they will be assigned a yellow health code and will no longer need to take a NAT on arrival and on the third day after entering the city – the arrival date is counted as day 0.
For five consecutive days starting from the day after entering Macao, they must do daily rapid antigen tests (RAT) and upload their results onto the Macao Health Code. Their health codes will turn to green after their last negative RAT results are uploaded, on the fifth day.
If any of the five daily RAT results is positive, their health codes will turn red and home isolation measures must be observed by the relevant persons.
After entering Macao, people are allowed to leave anytime for Taiwan, Hong Kong and foreign countries but they are barred from entering mainland China directly from Macao for the next nine days, according to the Centre.
First published on 22 December 2022 at 9:30 pm
