Once Beijing officials give the go-ahead to Macau and Hong Kong to resume quarantine-free cross-border travel, the two SARs plan to limit how many people are able to travel to the nearby region. Ao says the initial daily cap will be around 3,000 people a day moving in each direction.<\/p>\n
\nAfter the trial, if conditions permit, the quota will be gradually increased,”<\/strong> Ao noted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nAo further divulged that people traveling for emergency reasons, such as medical issues or funerals, will not be counted against the daily quota. Macau or Hong Kong residents seeking to visit the other SAR will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications will be largely handled online.<\/p>\n
Case Concerns<\/b><\/h2>\n
Beijing was expected to issue Macau and Hong Kong authorization to begin quarantine-free travel between the regions this week or next. But the uptick of new COVID-19 cases in the Guangdong Province threatens that start. Guangdong borders Macau and Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
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There have been 10 new reported coronavirus cases in the province over the past week. That is seemingly a minuscule amount for a province with a population of more than 126 million people. But China’s “zero-COVID” policy has required draconian travel restrictions upon detection of even a handful of cases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
By comparison, the most recent seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases in the United States, which is home to around 330 million people, was 146,554.<\/p>\n
“I think China’s zero policy is completely unsustainable and ill-conceived for a virus that is obviously going to be endemic,” Edward Holmes, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Sydney, opined to Science <\/i>magazine this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Macau and Hong Kong continue to wait on Beijing for permission to allow cross-border travel between the two Chinese Special Administrative Regions (SARs) without quarantine. When that happens, a leading government official in Macau said only those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be immune from medical observations. Macau Social Affairs and Culture Secretary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":196077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,81881],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Macau and Hong Kong to Require Vaccination for Quarantine-Free Travel<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n