Macau to drop quarantine, isolation requirements from 8 January

The new measures will mean all nationalities will be allowed to enter Macau without quarantine, with all health management measures also abolished. 

The nucleic acid test (NAT) requirement for people entering Macau from mainland China has also been removed, mirroring a similar measure announced by Beijing earlier in the day.

Foreigners, however, will still be required to take a NAT test shortly before arrival.

The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Ao Ieong U, said the Macau government changed its preventive measures immediately after China’s State Council eased the mainland’s own restrictions on Thursday.

The new measures to be introduced in Macau on 8 January include:

• Macau International Airport to resume transfer services
• All foreign nationals are allowed to enter, restoring the border situation to its 2019 status
• The requirements around declaration of health status at all ports of entry and of post-entry health management will be abolished
• For those entering from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, there will no longer be any NAT test upon entry
• Those entering from foreign countries will be required to present a negative NAT result obtained within the previous 48 hours or show RAT test result at the time of boarding the plane or ship
• People entering from Hong Kong, Taiwan and foreign countries will be required to undergo a 48-hour nucleic acid test if they wish to travel to Mainland China within 7 days of entry

Beijing announced earlier in the day that, starting from 8 January, no NAT test will be required for entry from the Special Administrative Region.

With Macau now reciprocating, the border control situation between the two jurisdictions will effectively return to the pre-pandemic situation from next week.

The director of the Macau Health Bureau Alvis Lo said: “60% to 70% of the population in Macau has already been infected, and according to health information they will not be re-infected within three to six months after infection.

“The transition period will [therefore] end after January 8 and Covid-19 will become an endemic disease in Macau.”

Earlier this week Macau reported a 51.4% year-on-year decline in gaming revenue for 2022, after years of Covid-19 restrictions. Revenue of MOP42.20bn (£4.38bn/€4.97bn/$5.24bn) was down 84.8% compared to 2019, the year before the pandemic hit.