The Sheraton Grand Macao will temporarily suspend its status as a quarantine hotel for returning travelers during the Chinese New Year period.
The hotel, part of Sands China’s Sands Cotai Central property – soon to become The Londoner Macao – has stopped accepting new quarantine guests since 16 January and will be empty of any quarantined guests from 6 to 19 February as it gears up for the CNY holiday.
Sheraton Grand Macao and SJM’s Lisboeta are the only two hotels in Macau that accept quarantine guests from Hong Kong, Taiwan and high-risk areas in mainland China. Sheraton will start accepting guests into quarantine again from 20 February.
Macau registered its first case of COVID-19 since June 2020 last week with a returning traveler on a chartered Air Macau flight from Tokyo testing positive upon arrival.
The health authority has now confirmed that the case was not the more contagious variant of the virus found in the United Kingdom or South Africa. The patient had tested negative when departing Dubai for Tokyo, but then tested positive upon arrival into Macau.
The government is currently in the process of arranging its vaccine distribution plan, with local residents, non-resident workers and non-resident students all set to receive free vaccinations. However, the actual vaccination date might be delayed due to the postponement of freight. The health authority is hopeful the first batch of vaccines will arrive within the first quarter of this year.