Macau eases Covid test rule for air, sea travel to mainland

November 10, 2022 Macau Events & Announcements

Macau has eased the Covid-19 test rule for travellers departing for mainland China via flight or vessel from Macau, says the city’s Health Bureau.

With effect from 12am on Tuesday (November 8), such people no longer need to provide a 24-hour validity certificate of a ‘negative’ Covid-19 test result counting from the date of sampling. Those travellers are however reminded of the need to check Covid-19 test requirements applicable at their intended destination in mainland China, said the bureau.

On Saturday, the test validity time for land journeys across Macau’s border with Zhuhai in neighbouring Guangdong province was raised to 48 hours, from a 24-hour validity imposed on October 30, amid a Covid-19 alert in Macau.

Mainland China remains as the only place that has a largely quarantine-free travel arrangement with Macau.

Nonetheless, the mainland has reported of thousands of new Covid-19 positive cases daily since the start of this month. A majority was from Guangdong province, according to China’s National Health Commission. Guangdong is a major feeder market for Macau’s tourism trade, and has been due to be the first place to restart the group tour trade with Macau.

As of Monday, the mainland as a whole had reported over 7,400 fresh local Covid-19 infection cases within 24 hours. Of that tally, 2,649 were in Guangdong province. Most of those ‘positives’ were in its capital, Guangzhou, according to the latest update from the health commission and Guangdong’s local health authority.

As an ongoing policy during the pandemic, anyone intending to travel to Macau from the mainland who happens to be coming from an area designated as “high risk” for Covid-19 transmission, faces quarantine-on-arrival in a designated facility in Macau.

The list now covers places in 25 of mainland China’s 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and major cities, according to the latest data from Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre. That list includes various communities in nine cities in Guangdong province, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Maoming, Meizhou, Shantou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Yangjiang and Zhanjiang.