Hong Kong third wave: Macau tightens entry requirements for arrivals from city as coronavirus cases surge

With Hong Kong’s third wave of Covid-19 infections showing no sign of easing, Macau has followed Guangdong’s lead in placing tighter entry requirements on arrivals from the city, who, starting on Friday, will have to produce a negative Covid-19 test report issued within the last 24 hours.

Macau announced on Thursday that the new measure would come into force at 6am on Friday, replacing a previous rule that allowed visitors to present a valid negative report issued in the last 72 hours. The requirement for arrivals to undergo 14 days of quarantine will remain in place.

The casino hub’s move came one day after Guangdong announced a similar entry rule for arrivals from Hong Kong.

In Shenzhen’s case, from 10am on Friday, a valid negative Covid-19 test report issued within the past 24 hours – as opposed to 72 hours, as required since July 17 – must be presented to border officers when entering the city in Guangdong province. Visitors will be denied entry if they fail to provide the documentation.

Arrivals will still have to comply with a 14-day quarantine requirement, imposed on July 17, though cross-border truck drivers are among those exempted from the measure.

“The number of visitors affected may not be very big, but the message is very clear. Our neighbours regard Hong Kong as a place of increasing risk,” said Stanley Ng Chau-pei, president of the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), which has been lobbying mainland authorities to ease entry curbs on cross-border truckers.

“We can’t blame them. Hong Kong should try to put the third wave of infection under control as soon as possible. Now the central government is offering help in expanding our testing capacity. I hope the opposition politicians [do not] block the anti-epidemic work,” he added.