Cross-border traffic is getting rolling again, as Macao shrugs off the restrictions imposed by Covid-19 over the past year.
Movements at the land borders and over the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge have more than doubled, while there has been a sharp increase in vehicle registrations, according to the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC).
In February, cross-border vehicular traffic rose by 120.9 per cent year-on-year to 303,539 trips; light automobile trips (285,558) and heavy truck trips (16,439) increased by 137.5 per cent and 30.9 per cent respectively.
Cross-border travel restrictions with the Chinese mainland have been gradually eased since Macao’s first Covid-19 case in January 2020.
In the first two months of this year, cross-border vehicular traffic (667,596 trips) and gross weight of containerised cargo by land (3,931 tonnes) increased by 18.8 per cent and 19.1 per cent year-on-year respectively, The Macau Post Daily reported.
The number of licensed motor vehicles in Macao reached 244,313 at the end of February, up by 1.5 per cent year-on-year.
The number of light automobiles (111,606) and heavy motorcycles (103,171) grew by 1.8 per cent and 3.2 per cent year-on-year respectively.
As vehicle registration services were suspended for part of February last year, the new registration of motor vehicles in February this year rose by 110.3 per cent year-on-year to 917, of which heavy motorcycles (445) and light automobiles (435) increased by 131.8 per cent and 95.9 per cent respectively.
In the first two months, the new registration of motor vehicles increased by 62.6 per cent year-on-year to 2,194.
The number of traffic accidents in February totalled 919, with 280 persons injured. In the first two months, there were 2,117 traffic accidents, which caused 676 injuries, the DSEC recorded.
