Macao imposes quarantine on arrivals from Shenyang and Shijiazhuang

The Macao government has imposed mandatory 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement on Tuesday.

Under the measure, which takes effect at 9 a.m. today (6 January), all those who have been in the northern city within 14 days prior to their entry into Macao must undergo 14 days of quarantine and medical observation at one of the government’s “quarantine hotels”. The statement said that the measure was due to “the latest development of the COVID-19 epidemic situation in Hebei province”.

Meanwhile, the Macao government has also imposed mandatory 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province. The measure, which was announced by the centre on Monday, took effect at 6 a.m. on 5 January also due to “the latest development of the COVID-19 epidemic situation in Liaoning province”.

The Macao government has also imposed mandatory 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from Dalian city in Liaoning province, which took effect on Sunday.

In general, those arriving in Macao from the mainland only have to present a nucleic acid test (NAT) certificate confirming that they have tested negative for COVID-19 within the past seven days, without having to undergo quarantine upon their arrival to the city. 

Over the past few weeks, the Macao government has imposed 14-day quarantine on arrivals from certain districts, towns and communities in a number of cities in the mainland, such as Beijing and Chengdu (the capital of Sichuan province), as well as a number of cities in Heilongjiang province, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region although the Macao government has recently lifted its quarantine requirement for arrivals from some of these districts, towns and communities.

Now, in addition to the three cities of Dalian, Shenyang and Shijiazhuang, the areas (districts, towns and communities) in the mainland for which the Macao government’s quarantine for arrivals is still in force comprise those in Beijing, Heihe city in Heilongjiang province, and Xingtai city in Hebei province.

Macao has not recorded a new COVID-19 case for 193 days, while no local case has been confirmed in 282 days. Macau’s COVID-19 tally stands at 46 with zero fatalities.

(The Macau Post Daily/Macao News)