Tourists in Macao Special Administrative Region in September of 2022 Photo: IC

The Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has removed nucleic acid testing requirements for arrivals from locations including Hong Kong SAR and the Taiwan region, which has taken effect from Friday, a step toward further easing pandemic related travel restrictions.

Travelers no longer need to undergo testing when landing in the Macao SAR, and their health code will no longer become "red;" The nucleic acid test required on the third day after arrival has also been scrapped, according to the Macao SAR.

Travelers from overseas still need to present a negative nucleic acid test certificate taken within 72 hours before entry, officials confirmed. 

Travelers' health code will turn "yellow" which means they will be subject to self-health monitoring and undergo COVID-19 antigen tests for five consecutive days and upload the results to relevant departments. If their COVID-19 antigen test results present as negative on the fifth day, their health code will turn "green," according to the Macao SAR.

A positive result means their health code will become "red" and they will be required to enter home quarantine.

Macao SAR has implemented optimized measures over recent days in line with the mainland's anti-COVID measures including presenting the nucleic acid testing reports within 72 hours instead of the previous 24 hours for inbound passengers. "The number of tourists in Macao SAR has increased, and the sales of our retail partners have also increased significantly thanks to these optimized measures," a Macao SAR businessperson surnamed Sou told the Global Times on Friday. 

But during a short term, some retail businesses including restaurants are short of staff as COVID-19 infections peak, Sou said. "The shortage of staff is expected to improve soon after the infection peak reaching in about two weeks," Sou noted.

As a businessperson living in Macao SAR, Sou said he is quite optimistic toward the optimized measures and hopes that the local economy will improve significantly in 2023.