Ma Chio Hong, who heads the Operations and Communications Division of the Public Security Police (PSP), announced during Wednesday’s press conference that a new service point will be set up at the police’s Immigration Services Building in Pac On in Taipa where staff will help residents who are unable to use IT devices fill in the local government’s online application for the Zhuhai government’s quarantine waiver. The new service point will start operating on Friday, Ma said.
Currently, the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) is running eight service points on its premises across the city where staff members help residents who do not know how to use the internet fill in the quarantine exemption’s online application.
Ma said that the new service points will open between 9 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. from Mondays to Thursdays, and from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Fridays. They are closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
Since last Tuesday, the Zhuhai government has exempted up to 1,000 Macao residents per day from its 14-day quarantine requirement who need to cross the Macao-Zhuhai border for official purposes, business activities or other special reasons. Those who have been granted the quarantine waiver by the Zhuhai government can only cross the Macao-Zhuhai border via the Hengqin border checkpoint – which is open 24/7 – or the Macao-Zhuhai checkpoint on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) – which operates between 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
The Macao government launched the online application on June 11 for the exemption measure. Eligible Macao residents have to fill in the online application, which runs from 10 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. daily, five days prior to their intended entry into Zhuhai. The Macao government will first assess and approve or reject the applications, after which the Zhuhai government will “confirm” the list that the former has approved. The quarantine waiver is valid for seven days each time. Macao residents whose application for the quarantine exemption has been approved will have to undergo a nucleic acid test (NAT) – which has a validity of seven days – two days prior to their intended entry into Zhuhai.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
PHOTO © Asia Times
