The government’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement Tuesday night that anyone, including locals, who have been in South Korea 14 days before their intended entry into Macau will have to stay under medical surveillance for 14 days in a hotel in Macau arranged by the local authorities, starting from 12:00 p.m. Wednesday, after considering that the COVID-19 epidemic in South Korea has “suddenly” deteriorated.
According to the statement, those who have completed the 14-day quarantine in the “specified” hotel – Pousada Marina Infante in Cotai – will have to pay a fee, including local residents who are subject to the new measure which will be implemented from midday on Wednesday.
According to previous government announcements, non-resident workers who have arrived in Macau by air but have been on the mainland 14 days before their intended entry into Macau currently have to remain under medical surveillance for 14 days at Pousada Marina Infante and pay a fee of 5,600 patacas (US$700) – being lowered from the initially-announced amount of 8,750 patacas, a measure that started to be implemented on February 20.
Tuesday’s announcement of the new measure means that local residents who have completed the 14-day quarantine at the Pousada Marina Infante hotel will also have to pay 5,600 patacas.
During Tuesday’s daily press conference about Macau’s COVID-19 situation, Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said that seven non-resident workers are currently under medical surveillance at Pousada Marina Infante.
Before Wednesday’s new measure, visitors arriving from South Korea – and other visitors who have been in the country 14 days prior – had to undergo a medical examination, which lasts six to eight hours, at one of two stations – the Workers Stadium next to the Barrier Gate checkpoint for visitors arriving at the border checkpoints on the peninsula and the Taipa Ferry Terminal for visitors arriving at the border checkpoints in Taipa and Cotai.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
PHOTO © New York Post
