Macao reports 2 new cases, mulls curbs on arrivals from HK

Macao on Sunday morning reported a confirmed case of COVID-19, taking the total to 19. The latest case involved a Macao student returning from United States with his mother. He is the son of the city's 18th coronavirus patient, who was confirmed to have contracted the disease on Saturday.

The mother and son arrived at Hong Kong International Airport from New York, on Saturday and returned to Macao by a charter bus arranged by the Macao government.

The Macao government said on Saturday that it would not rule out imposing quarantine on arrivals from Hong Kong where new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection are on the rise.

At present, Hong Kong residents entering Macao are not subject to quarantine unless they have visited the Chinese mainland or foreign countries within the past 14 days.

Macao on Sunday also reported a suspected case which involved a 20-year-old male Macao resident of Portuguese nationality. He is tested preliminary positive to the virus.

The man entered Hong Kong from the United Kingdom on March 17, took a taxi to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Border Post where he boarded a shuttle bus to Macao.

Since March 16, Macao has reported nine new cases of coronavirus infection. All the patients have traveled overseas in their incubation period. Seven of them were diagnosed after returning to Macao from the Hong Kong airport.

Macao authorities arranged charter buses to pick up Macao residents arriving at Hong Kong airport so that they don't have to be quarantined in Hong Kong for 14 days before returning to Macao. A total of 281 Macao residents took those buses to return home on Saturday.

Since last Tuesday, Macao has required any one who have traveled to a foreign country to be quarantined in designated places for 14 days upon arrival. As of Saturday, a total of 1,543 people were quarantined in four of the six designated hotels. Each person quarantined for the 14-day period is required to pay the Macao government a total charge of MOP $5,600.