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Unjabbed civil servants need to display valid NAT results starting Sept 27

2021-09-15 03:27     Comment:6

Prisca Tang

        The Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) announced in a statement yesterday that civil servants who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 must display a valid Nucleic Acid Test (NAT) result starting September 27 prior to entering their respective work places.

According to the statement, due to the recent guidelines laid out by the Health Bureau (SSM), the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau decided to implement the measure in which public servants must either display a COVID-19 vaccination record or display an NAT test result that was taken within seven days. The statement pointed out that those unable to show either the inoculation record or the NAT result face disciplinary proceedings for “unexcused absence from work.”

The statement said that the NAT must be taken during non-office hours, adding that those who can show a valid doctor’s note warning them against having a COVID-19 vaccination can have their cost of the NAT test reimbursed.

The statement pointed out that in order to effectively lower the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak in Macau, civil servants should comply with the government’s novel coronavirus prevention and control guidelines. The Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau urged all civil servants to get inoculated.

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  • visitors2021091907:352021-09-19 07:35

    The Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) announced yesterday that from September 27 all public servants who have not been inoculated against the novel coronavirus will have to be tested for COVID-19 every seven days, otherwise they will be barred from entering their respective workplaces. (next paragraph) Yesterday’s SAFP announcement came after the Health Bureau (SSM) published new guidelines on Monday on COVID-19 vaccinations and nucleic acid testing (NAT) for “all staff members” in the city, according to which all those in contact with service users during their work, or all those who work with their colleagues in indoor workplaces, will have to be tested for COVID-19 once every week, or even more frequently, if they have not been inoculated against the novel coronavirus. (next paragraph) The new measure announced by the Health Bureau on Monday will cover almost the entire working population in the city, regardless of whether working in the public or the private sectors, except for very few groups of people such as freelancers. The Health Bureau said on Monday that the required frequency of the nucleic acid tests for those who have not been inoculated against COVID-19 will depend on their respective occupations. (next paragraph) The Health Bureau also said on Monday that all the respective public or private entities will have to draw up their own specific rules that enable them to implement the new measure that is required by its “principled” guidelines published earlier that day. (next paragraph) The Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau made the announcement about the new requirement in a circular letter for all public servants, which was released on the bureau’s website yesterday.

  • visitors2021091907:472021-09-19 07:47

    The letter said that the bureau has drawn up guidelines for all public entities so as to implement the new measure announced by the Health Bureau on Monday. (next paragraph) The letter said that in order to effectively reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmissions in Macau, public servants have the responsibility to comply with the Health Bureau’s novel coronavirus prevention measures by getting inoculated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, with the aim of protecting the health of themselves, their family members and members of the public. (next paragraph) From September 27, the letter said, all public servants must either display a COVID-19 vaccination record, or present an NAT certificate confirming that they have tested for the novel coronavirus within the past seven days, when entering their respective workplace. (the next paragraph) The SAFP letter said that those are unable to go to work due to their failure to display the inoculation record or the negative NAT result will be “regarded as having unexcused absence from work”. (next paragraph) The letter said that the public servants must undergo the required nucleic acid tests during their non-working hours. The letter also said that only those who hold a doctor’s certificate confirming that they are unable to get vaccinated against COVID-19 due to certain health reasons can have their NAT cost exempted – i.e. public servants who merely choose not to be inoculated without a health reason will have to pay for the regular tests themselves.

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