The Chief Executive, Mr Ho Iat Seng, leads representatives of MSAR Government departments in a videoconference with officials from Zhuhai Command Center for COVID-19 Prevention and Control
The Chief Executive, Mr Ho Iat Seng, exchanged views on Macao-Zhuhai joint prevention and control of COVID-19, with Mr Lv Yuyin, the Secretary of the Zhuhai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), via videoconference, while Mr Ho was at Macao’s Civil Protection Action Centre on 19 July.
Mr Ho first expressed his gratitude to the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CPC, the Guangdong Provincial Government, the Zhuhai Municipal Committee of the CPC and the Zhuhai Municipal Government for their strong support in Macao’s fight against COVID-19. In particular, he thanked Zhuhai for guaranteeing the supply of daily necessities to Macao, and for sending medical workers to help Macao cope with numerous rounds of mass nucleic acid testing. This showed the close ties and friendship between the two places.
He added that Macao had achieved preliminary success in containing the latest COVID-19 outbreak, thanks to effective measures implemented at different stages with the support of the Central People’s Government, and the Guangdong Provincial Government, as well as that of the Zhuhai Municipal Government.
The understanding and cooperation of Macao people also helped to limit the spread of the virus in the community, Mr Ho noted.
The Chief Executive also reaffirmed his commitment to the “zero COVID” policy, pledging that the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) Government would spare no effort in epidemic prevention and control, to ensure the health and safety of the population.
He pointed out that the MSAR Government would strive to bring the outbreak under control as soon as possible, so that quarantine requirements for entry to Zhuhai from Macao could be gradually eased.
At the meeting, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Ms Ao Ieong U, said that after 10 days of closure of non-essential businesses, plus multiple rounds of mass nucleic acid testing, and daily rapid antigen self-testing, Macao’s fight against COVID-19 was expected to enter a “consolidation” phase on 23 July.
The MSAR Government would not let down its guard in its effort to curb the spread of the virus during the consolidation phase. This was in order to reach the ultimate goal of “zero COVID”, she added.
For his part, Mr Lv, the Secretary of the CPC Zhuhai Municipal Committee, thanked the MSAR Government for its efforts in joint epidemic prevention and control, as well as for its support in Zhuhai’s handling of its own COVID-19 outbreak.
Mr Lv noted that since the onset of Zhuhai’s latest outbreak, the Zhuhai authorities had taken swift action to ring-fence cases and contain the spread of the virus in strict accordance with President Xi Jinping’s guidance on epidemic prevention work, as well as with the policy requirements of the State Council, and of the Guangdong Provincial Government.
Mr Lv added that Macao’s timely reporting of cases and sharing of critical information with Zhuhai had greatly helped Zhuhai in curbing the latest outbreak.
He said he hoped the two sides could continue to enhance information sharing and collaboration regarding epidemic prevention, and to streamline entry and exit arrangements between the two places. The latter step was on condition that epidemic prevention requirements were met, but doing so would ensure the convenient flow of people and goods between Macao and Zhuhai, so that the economic and social impacts of COVID-19 could be minimised.
Also discussed in the meeting were: pandemic prevention and control efforts; the issue of quarantine-free entry and exit between Macao and Zhuhai when the current outbreak is under control; and the arrangements for entry and exit of people with emergency needs during a period of outbreak.
Leading officials respectively of the Macao and Zhuhai governments were also present at today’s meeting.
