Macau urges residents not to travel for CNY
Travel advice has been published by Macau health authorities following the rise of Covid-19 infections in some Chinese provinces.
Macau.- Authorities in Macau have strongly recommended residents do not travel during the Chinese New Year holiday period, which runs from February 11 to 17.
The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre has urged people to stay in the city or at least avoid travelling any further than Guangdong Province in China due to the rise in Covid-19 infections in other Chinese provinces.
The Centre said in a statement: “In Chinese provinces and cities, different measures were launched to encourage people to celebrate the Lunar New Year more restrained and locally, including some regions implementing a 14-day medical observation measure, aimed at those who return after leaving their place of birth, or habitual residence.”
“For this reason, the centre calls on residents and people from all social sectors to stay in Macau as much as possible during the Lunar New Year and to avoid trips or visits to family members in China, particularly in cities from the north or cities outside Guangdong Province, in order to decrease the risk of infection or have to comply with unnecessary medical observation.”
Authorities in Guangdong have previously made a similar request to residents there.
After many months without new cases, since the beginning of the year, new infections have been reported in Heilongjiang province, Jilin province, and in Beijing and the surrounding Hebei province.
Chinese authorities have forecast about 1.15bn trips this year during the holiday, down 20 per cent from 2020 when the pandemic hit the region.
In a bid to prevent a new spike, authorities have cancelled almost all citywide Chinese New Year public events and activities, including firework shows, spring festival markets and parades.
The travel advice will heavily impact on the tourism and gaming businesses, which had hoped for a boost in the activity during the usually busy Chinese New Year period.
