Those departing for Macau from foreign countries, Hong Kong or Taiwan are no longer required to present any COVID-19 vaccination certificates from today, the Macau government announced last night.

The Macau government’s lifting of its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement for arrivals from foreign countries as well as the Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Taiwan, which took effect at 00:00 today, was announced by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre in a statement.

Nevertheless, the statement underlined that arrivals from foreign countries, Hong Kong and Taiwan will still be subject to the Macau government’s nucleic acid testing (NAT) and hotel quarantine requirements.

Currently, all those departing for Macau from foreign countries must present an NAT certificate confirming a negative COVID-19 result valid for 48 hours when boarding a Macau-bound flight, while all those departing for Macau from Hong Kong or Taiwan must present a negative COVID-19 result valid for just 24 hours when boarding a shuttle bus (aka Golden Bus) from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) or a flight from the Taiwan region.

Currently, all those arriving in Macau from foreign countries, Hong Kong or Taiwan must undergo seven days of hotel quarantine plus three days of self-health management.

Before today, all those aged 12 or over departing for Macau from foreign countries, Hong Kong or Taiwan needed to present a certificate confirming that they had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at least 14 days prior, i.e., having developed basic full immunity, or a doctor’s certificate confirming that their condition rendered them unsuitable to be inoculated against the novel coronavirus for a period of over two months. In addition, travellers aged 18 or over who received the last required shot of their basic-full-immunity COVID-19 vaccinations over seven months prior also needed to present a certificate confirming that they had received at least one COVID-19 booster jab.

Last night’s statement announced that from 00:00 today, all those, regardless of age, departing for Macau from foreign countries, Hong Kong or Taiwan are no longer required to present any COVID-19 vaccination certificates when boarding their Macau-bound transport.

The Macau government rolled out its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement for arrivals from foreign countries in October last year, and extended its implementation to arrivals from Hong Kong and Taiwan in February this year.

‘Doesn’t mean inoculations are no longer important’

Only those departing for Macau from the mainland have always not been covered by the Macau government’s mandatory COVID-19 inoculation requirement.

Last night’s statement underlined that the Macau government’s decision to no longer require arrivals from COVID-19 high-risk countries and regions to present a vaccination certificate does not mean that “COVID-19 inoculations are no longer important”. Instead, the statement said, the local government has decided to lift its COVID-19 vaccination requirement for the arrivals after considering that the vast majority of arrivals had met its novel coronavirus inoculation requirement. The statement said that a continuation of requiring those departing for Macau to display a COVID-19 vaccination certificate will cause unnecessary inconvenience to them.

According to the Macau Health Bureau (SSM), as of last night Macau’s COVID-19 tally stood at 793 confirmed and 1,455 asymptomatic cases, 785 and 1,349 of which had meanwhile been cured. The death toll remained at six. 

As of yesterday, 620,567 people had been vaccinated in Macau. The number of vaccinations stood at 1.47 million. 

A health worker administers a COVID-19 jab to a girl at Hong Kong Children’s Hospital in Kowloon Bay earlier this week. – Photo: Hong Kong’s Information Services Department (ISD)