Addressing yesterday evening’s daily press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, Inês Chan Lou, who heads the Licensing and Inspection Department of the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), said that the government was studying the possibility of hotels in integrated resort complexes being converted into quarantine facilities while maintaining the operations of the resort’s other facilities such as malls. 

‘Stand-alone’ hotels preferable for quarantine 

The local government had previously indicated that it preferred not to opt for hotels in gaming resort complexes as “quarantine hotels” as this would affect casino operations and other facilities such as restaurants. The local government had pointed out that only a “stand-alone” hotel building that is not connected to shopping centres and casinos could be used as “quarantine hotels”. The local government had previously underlined that if a hotel without its own independent entrances in a gaming resort complex was to be used as a “quarantine hotel”, the resort’s casino facilities and all the other non-gaming amenities would have to be closed.

Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said in a press conference on Tuesday that the local government was “disappointed” about the unwillingness of the city’s six gaming operators to allow it to temporarily use some of the hotels in their integrated resort complexes as “quarantine hotels”, despite the fact that the government would pay them for the service. Ho said that the local government has been facing increasingly severe difficulties in arranging more hotels that can be converted into medical surveillance facilities after more and more hotels are already being used by the government as quarantine facilities, due to the need to arrange for the rising number of residents returning from overseas – most of them students – to go into 14-days quarantine.

Inês Chan Lou, who heads the Macau Government Tourism Office’s (MGTO) Licensing and Inspection Department, addresses yesterday’s press conference at the Health Bureau (SSM) about the city’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Courtesy: TDM

By last night, Macau had 10 “quarantine hotels” providing about 2,400 rooms. Hundreds of Macau students enrolled overseas have returned home over the past two weeks and hundreds more are expected to follow suit.

During Tuesday’s press conference, Ho urged the six gaming operators to provide, if needed, quarantine hotel rooms as part of their social responsibility that Macau people expect from them.

Most major hotels in Macau are owned by gaming operators.

Following’s Ho remarks, Chan said during the daily press conference on Tuesday about Macau’s COVID-19 situation that her office had always been calling for owners of hotels in the city who would be willing to allow the government to use their hotels as “quarantine hotels” to contact her office, in which case MGTO officials would assess the respective hotels’ conditions and discuss with their owners the possible difficulties that could prevent the hotels from being converted into quarantine facilities. 

Chan pointed out on Tuesday that while in principle it’s easier for “stand-alone” hotel buildings to be converted into quarantine facilities, the possible difficulties of hotels in integrated resort complexes to be converted into quarantine facilities “could be solved step by step” provided that their owners “express their willingness” to transform the hotels into temporary quarantine facilities.

During the daily press conference on Wednesday, Chan said that the owners of various big and small hotels in the city – including a small old hotel with about 20 guestrooms – contacted her office earlier that day expressing their willingness to convert the hotels into temporary quarantine facilities. Chan said on Wednesday that MGTO officials, Health Bureau (SSM) officials and police officers would later inspect these hotels and assess their conditions before discussing with their owners the possibility of their hotels being converted into quarantine facilities. Chan said on Wednesday that the government could not reveal the names of the hotels which had expressed their willingness to be converted into quarantine facilities before it is finally confirmed that the hotels are to be used for quarantine purposes. 

During yesterday’s press conference, Chan reaffirmed that a “quarantine hotel” has to be operated as an “independent enclosed” space. She was quick to add that the government is studying the possibility in which, if a hotel in an integrated resort complex is converted into quarantine facility, the resort complex would not be closed as a whole, with the aim of minimising the impact on other businesses in the resort such as shops in its malls. 

Chan did not say whether any of the six gaming operators has contacted the office for discussions on converting some of the hotels in their integrated resort complexes into quarantine facilities.

Concerning her office’s feasibility study on the matter, Chan noted that in addition to the different layouts of facilities in integrated resorts, their current operations are also different. 

Chan said that for the time being the government would not consider using small hotels as quarantine facilities because it would be more difficult to manage too many small hotels scattered across the city as quarantine facilities. Chan said that the government would like to thank the small hotels which have contacted her office for their willingness to take part in the government’s anti-epidemic work.

32nd and 33rd COVID-19 cases 

Meanwhile, the government’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement late last night that two non-resident workers from the Philippines became Macau’s 32nd and 33rd COVID-19 patients yesterday.

The statement described both cases as imported. Macau has confirmed 23 imported cases since March 15.

The 32nd case is a 31-year-old male bakery warehouse worker living in the first-floor flat “M” of Chi Lok Building Rua de Fernão Mendes Pinto, a street near the Three Lamps district.

Both are friends. They took Cathay Pacific flight CX930 (seats 49D and 49E) from Manila to Hong Kong on March 17. In Hong Kong, both took a Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge “Golden Bus” to Macau where upon arrival both were ordered to go into 14-day home quarantine.

During their home quarantine, according to the statement, neither left their homes, had no contact with other people and stayed in a separate room.

According to the statement, their respective flatmates have undergone nucleic acid tests and will undergo 14-day medical surveillance at “quarantine hotels”.