Macau to ease Covid-19 test requirements from tomorrow

Authorities will extend the validity of pre-arrival Covid-19 tests to 48 hours.

Macau.- Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre has reported that from tomorrow (April 20) Covid-19 test validity will be extended for inbound travellers from Guangdong. Visitors will be able to present a negative Covid-19 nucleic acid test result obtained in the previous 48 hours instead of 24 hours.

The 24-hour validity Covid-19 test measure was imposed on March 18 due to a rise in Covid-19 cases in mainland China. Macao Government Tourism Office director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes has said she hopes Macau will receive over 20,000 visitor arrivals a day during the upcoming five-day Labour Day break in May.

China’s State Council has designated April 30 to May 4 as this year’s Labour Day break, a period that usually sees strong market demand in Macau. Last year, 165,500 tourists came to Macau during the Labour Day holiday period. The first day was the peak, with 44,000 arrivals.

The director of MGTO noted that from April 15 to 18, Macau had an average of 18,000 tourists a day. That was Macau’s Easter holiday, which is not a holiday in mainland China.

Macau’s Covid-19 Task Force reiterated in its announcement that, as before, travellers departing from Macau to Guangdong province must present a seven-day negative Covid-19 nucleic acid test certificate.

Mainland China continues to be the only country to have a largely quarantine-free travel bubble with Macau. 

Concern grows over Covid-19 cases and the impact on Macau’s Labour Day break

Macau authorities are closely monitoring the evolution of Covid-19 cases in mainland China as the Labour Day holiday period approaches.

Macau’s chief executive, Ho Iat Seng, said: “If we do not see a zero-Covid-19 case scenario [in mainland China] by this month’s end, we are going to have a big problem with the Labour Day holiday.”

However, he said that after the current wave of Covid-19 infections on the mainland, including in Shanghai and Guangdong, has passed and the situation stabilises, the city will resume negotiations with mainland authorities to restart package tour visa issuance.