Transport services between Hong Kong and Macau to return, but some question casino hub’s reopening amid rising Covid-19 cases
- Macau has eased entry rules, despite several businesses with infected staff forced to close and residents lining up outside clinics
- ‘Why is our reopening such a mess?’ Macau legislator Ron Lam U-tou says
Cross-border transport operators are set to resume services between Hong Kong and Macau after the casino hub relaxed its Covid-19 entry rules, but some have questioned the timing of the reopening as the former Portuguese colony has been grappling with rising infections.
Macau’s eased rules for arrivals took effect on Friday, despite the surge in cases forcing businesses with infected staff to temporarily close and residents to line up outside clinics to seek treatment. Shelves at several shops selling medicine and fresh food have also been emptied.
Legislator Ron Lam U-tou said: “I think the timing is really bad, it’s not that everyone doesn’t want to accept opening up. Why is our reopening such a mess? Where we are lying flat or even lying down [in our prevention measures], despite us standing guard over the past three years”
“Lying flat” is term made popular by the younger generation in mainland China, denoting disengagement or “doing nothing”.
The city on Thursday announced it would relax its travel restrictions, allowing people arriving from Hong Kong, Taiwan and other places to enter with a negative polymerase chain reaction test taken within three days.
