MACAU, February 25 - The Chief Executive, Mr Ho Iat Seng, said on Friday (25 February) the Government would stand firm on its existing anti-COVID-19 policies and guidelines, contributing to strengthen Macao’s economic resilience.

The Government would monitor closely the latest epidemic-related developments in neighbouring places, as well as related challenges wrought to the city’s economy, Mr Ho said. He added that the local economy might not only be affected by the epidemic situation in neighbouring places, but also by the latest military developments involving Russia and Ukraine.

Mr Ho spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a reception to celebrate the International Women's Day, hosted by the Women's General Association of Macau. The event also marked the inauguration of the association's 37th management board.

The Government would persist with the anti-epidemic policies adopted by the country, said Mr Ho. Under such policy direction, and with concerted effort from across the community, Macao’s epidemic prevention and control work had achieved effective results, said Mr Ho. As a result, the number of tourists visiting Macao after the Lunar New Year holidays pointed to a stable trend in visitor arrivals, he added, noting that there were more than 28,000 visitors to Macao on Thursday (24 February).

When asked about Macao’s vaccination effort, the Chief Executive said he and all principal officials had each received a booster dose of a vaccine against COVID-19.

The Government’s top priority was to protect the health and lives of the people in Macao. The Government aimed to encourage vaccination, but had never adopted any mandatory measures regarding COVID-19 vaccination. To protect the city’s children, the Government had the responsibility to encourage parents in Macao to get their children vaccinated against the disease, added Mr Ho. Currently, the city’s vaccination rate for adults aged 18 to 50 was around 95 percent. But the vaccination rate either among people aged 50 and over, or among those aged under 18 remained relatively low. The Government had the obligation to promote to the community the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Mr Ho stated.

The Chief Executive said the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was highly contagious. Therefore, some hotels that were previously used as medical observation facilities were no longer suitable for such purpose. After cautious evaluation, Treasure Hotel had been designated as a quarantine facility for people considered to be at high risk of having contracted COVID-19.

The Government continued to monitor closely the risk of infection at local hotels used as medical observation facilities, and had increased the use of robots to provide essential necessities to those observing quarantine, in a bid to lower the risk for people working in these hotels, said Mr Ho.