{"id":777000798,"date":"2022-12-07T11:17:37","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T14:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777000798"},"modified":"2026-04-23T02:16:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T05:16:50","slug":"elsie-ao-ieong-macau-cannot-remain-closed-to-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/elsie-ao-ieong-macau-cannot-remain-closed-to-the-world","title":{"rendered":"Elsie Ao Ieong: Macau cannot remain closed to the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Macau\u2019s secretary for social affairs and culture said the city will see a gradual opening up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Macau.-&nbsp;<strong>Elsie Ao Ieong U<\/strong>, Macau\u2019s secretary for social agfairs and culture said the city will undergo a \u2018gradual opening up\u2019 to emerge from China&#8217;s Zero-Covid policy. For nearly three years, Macau has been effectively closed to visitors other than from China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking to the media, Ao Ieong said: &#8220;At this moment, the community is going to face the outbreak, and&nbsp;<strong>we will have an increase in the number of cases in the city<\/strong>. We have to prepare ourselves for these positive cases to appear in the community.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She said&nbsp;it was impossible for Macau to <strong>remain shut<\/strong> to the outside world&nbsp;and stressed. Nevertheless, she sounded a note of caution, noting that future measures must not allow a widespread outbreak to occur. She said authorities hoped that the citizens could understand the characteristics of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Macau has reduced the interval between&nbsp;<strong>mandatory Covid-19 nucleic acid tests<\/strong>&nbsp;and rapid antigen tests for frontline casino staff&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-steps-up-covid-19-testing-for-casino-staff\" target=\"_blank\">from every four days<\/a>&nbsp;to every two. The measure applies to table dealers, security guards and cleaners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Macau currently requires all entrants from low-risk areas in China to provide a negative nucleic acid test result and a rapid antigen test within 24 hours of entry. In the first five days after arriving, they must take four nucleic acid tests daily as well as five rapid antigen tests daily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Macau\u2019s secretary for social affairs and culture said the city will see a gradual opening up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":26697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Macau's Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong U, announced a 'gradual opening up' from China's Zero-Covid policy, acknowledging an expected increase in cases. While stressing the impossibility of remaining shut, she cautioned against a widespread outbreak. Concurrently, Macau has intensified testing requirements for frontline casino staff and all entrants from low-risk areas in China.","focusai_entities":"Elsie Ao Ieong U","focusai_location":"Macau, China","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.8), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (1.0), marketing_crm (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), gambler_consumer (0.7), supplier_vendor (0.7)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Macau Reopening Timeline?","query":"What is the projected timeline for a significant easing of travel restrictions beyond the current measures, and how will this impact Macau's GGR forecasts for the next two fiscal quarters?"},{"label":"Operational Cost Impact?","query":"How will the increased frequency of mandatory nucleic acid and rapid antigen tests for frontline casino staff affect the operational expenditure and labor availability for Macau's concessionaires?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338],"tags":[23906],"class_list":["post-777000798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","tag-macau-casinos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777000798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777000798"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777000798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777000839,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777000798\/revisions\/777000839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777000798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777000798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777000798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}