FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Kowie Geldenhuys EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Paulo Coutinho www.macaudailytimes.com.mo WEDNESDAY T. 27º/ 31º Air Quality Good MOP 8.00 3833 “ THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ ” N.º 11 Aug 2021 HKD 10.00 A 50-YEAR-OLD WOMAN HAS GOV’T OFFERS FREE LAWMAKER COUTINHO ASKS HO REPORTEDLY LOST RMB500,000 IAT SENG FOR ANOTHER ROUND OF IN A SCAM INVOLVING AN COVID-19 TESTS TO SMOKE CONSUMER SUBSIDIES TO ‘SAFEGUARD ALLEGED VIRTUAL LOVER: PJ OUT HIDDEN CASES QUALITY OF LIFE AND EMPLOYMENT’ P4 P2 P5 AP PHOTO Chinese and Russian military forces are engaged in joint exercises in northwestern China as ties grow between the two states amid THE DAY AFTER uncertainty over instability in Afghanistan. The exercises involving ground troops and air forces are due to continue through Friday in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous region. More on p6 AP PHOTO India’s government is repealing a controversial tax law under which it pursued billions of dollars from international companies for their past dealings and hopes that scrapping the retrospective levy boosts investor confidence. The bill approved in Parliament’s upper house Monday proposes to withdraw tax demands made over indirect transfers of Indian assets prior to May 2012. It requires companies end their legal challenges over the old law and would refund the principal amount of any of the retrospective taxes the companies paid. Gaming revenue drops 48% in a week on Delta AP PHOTO cases; casinos send staff Afghanistan A U.S. home on temporary peace envoy brought a P3 warning to the Taliban unpaid leave yesterday that any AP PHOTO government that comes to power through force in Afghanistan won’t be recognized internationally after a series of cities fell to the insurgent FIVE-YEAR PLAN group in stunningly quick succession. Zalmay Population Khalilzad, the U.S. envoy, Guangdong traveled to Doha, Qatar, where the Taliban maintain figures remain wants companies a political office, to tell the group that there was no stable, TNRs to reach point in pursuing victory on the battlefield because a military takeover of Kabul continue RMB800 billion would guarantee they will be global pariahs. to drop income by 2025 More on backpage P3 P4 page 2 www.macaudailytimes.com.mo MACAU 澳門 11.08.2021 wed MACAU’S LEADING NEWSPAPER DSF educates school students about Gov’t offers free Covid-19 tests taxation to smoke out hidden cases The Financial Services Bureau (DSF) has educated school students from HONEY TSANG approximately a dozen XINHUA primary and secondary EOPLE can now enjoy free schools about the duty Pnucleic acid test (NAT) servi- of taxation in the first ces offered by the government as half of this year. Primary of yesterday, Tai Wa Hou, coor- school students were dinator of the Health Bureau’s shown animated videos to Covid-19 Vaccination Operation, educate them about the who announced the new policy at idea of tax declaration as a the regular Covid-19 media brie- duty. In secondary schools, fing yesterday. the DSF taught classes Tai emphasized that the com- on professional tax, plimentary service is intended to revenue tax, and revenue help those who believe they have supplementary tax. The been exposed to Covid-19 to take Campus Promotion the NAT for early identification. Campaign on Taxation has To prevent abuse of the ser- been in operation since vice, the NAT results obtained 2015 and is popular across from this mechanism will not be the education sector. uploaded to the health code sys- tem, and cannot be used for the soon as possible. He is aiming for MASS TEST FOLLOW-UP force have identified 35 of them Housing Bureau purposes of facilitating border an 80% vaccination rate in Ma- The government has been una- and are trying to contact four issues 221 crossing, he added. cau, but added that this is not an ble to reach around 2,000 people others. So far, there is only one management If an individual does not recei- easy task. Most vaccines in his- who have not conducted the NAT, person who remains reluctant to licenses ve a phone call from the govern- tory have not achieved an 80% even following the conclusion of conduct the NAT, and has agreed ment within six to eight hours of inoculation rate among the po- the mass test. to undergo a 14-day quarantine as As of August 6, the conducting the free NAT, this is pulation. The authorities are now inves- an alternative to testing. Housing Bureau (IH) has likely to mean they tested nega- Nonetheless, he stressed that tigating the whereabouts of the- Tai said the government has no issued a total of 221 tive. this is a common goal that the en- se people, speculating that some right to force any person to con- management licenses for tire world is working towards, as may hold dual nationalities and duct the NAT. the provision of services at MORE VACCINES it is one of the ways that society have already left Macau. Regarding the family of four floor buildings, in addition TO ARRIVE IN MACAU will be able to resume normality. Among the 55 people who refu- who were infected with the Del- to 191 provisional licenses. In further good news for the “For sure, the higher the ino- sed to take the test, 16 conducted ta variant, all of them are in good Some 41 provisional public, a new batch of 200,000 culation rate, the more robust the NAT on their own, whilst 39 health. The daughter and son license holders have not Sinopharm inactivated vacci- the herd immunity will be,” Tai have not taken the test as requi- have begun to regain their sense applied for the formal nes was dispatched from Beijing explained, suggesting that 80% is red. of smell, and the father’s fever is license. Of these, 31 yesterday morning. It is slated to not necessarily the ultimate goal. Of these 39 people, the police gone. are not currently under arrive in Macau tomorrow. This a service contract with means that Macau has now a su- any building. The IH is in fficient supply of vaccines for the contact with the remaining public, Tai reaffirmed. Gov’t reinstates 48-hour Covid-19 test for cross-border travelers 10 to remind them of the Since the inoculation service application requirements. THE government has relaxed the cross-border mea- In yesterday’s media briefing, Leong Iek Hou, coordinator They will not be resumed on August 8, following sures between Macau and Guangdong Province by at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), permitted to provide the three-day mass test con- increasing the validity period for negative Covid-19 test said that the government decided to reinstate the regu- property management ducted last week, Macau is now results back to 48 hours. lation after a discussion with mainland governments. services after August seeing around 5,000 people re- Coming into effect from 6 a.m. yesterday, the measure All parties agreed to provide more leeway for the was announced by the government late on the night of cross-border regime, taking into consideration the fact 21 unless they obtain a ceiving a vaccination every day. August 9, after all samples tested negative during the that there have no further confirmed cases discovered license, and will be fined However, the current daily rate is citywide mass test. from the mass test over the past seven days, aside from between MOP50,000 still “lower than expected.” The relaxation in cross-border measures offers great the family of four in Macau. and MOP500,000 if they Tai urges the public to get vac- relief for bluecard holders residing in Guangdong, as it The less restrictive measures are intended to offer cinated and help foster herd im- provide services without a enables them to enter and leave Macau more readily. greater convenience to daily cross-border commuters. formal license. munity within the community as nment proclaimed that a negative Covid-19 testing City’s ‘immediate prevention status’ lifted Macau was facing an “ex- proof conducted within 24 tremely high” contagion hours and classifying the HE city’s “immedia- The order was signed demic risk. people, together with risk within the local com- residential building the fa- Tte prevention status,” by Chief Executive Ho Iat All sample results re- another 101,786 peo- munity. mily inhabited in as “red- which had been placed Seng. ceived from the three- ple who underwent the To prevent the spread of code zone,” in which all last Tuesday following the During the Covid-19 -day mass testing have test on their own outside the pandemic in Macau, a the inhabitants there are announcement that a fa- press briefing yesterday, come back negative. the citywide testing pro- set of mandates has been not allowed to leave the mily of four locals tested it was disclosed that the The city’s first-of-its-kind gram since August 3 — enforced, including the area until they test negati- positive, was lifted at 10 status will be lowered in mass Covid-19 test sche- totaling 716,251 people. requirement of all people ve for Covid-19 and further p.m. last night. accordance with the pan- me processed 614,465 Last Tuesday, the gover- leaving Macau to present notice. MDT www.macaudailytimes.com.mo DIRECTOR & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF_Paulo Coutinho [email protected] A MACAU TIMES PUBLICATIONS LTD PUBLICATION ASSISTANT EDITOR_Lynzy Valles SENIOR WRITER_Honey Tsang CONTRIBUTING EDITORS_Leanda Lee, Severo Portela, Sheyla Zandonai ADMINISTRATOR & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Kowie Geldenhuys [email protected] NEWSROOM AND CONTRIBUTORS_Albano Martins, Annabel Jackson, Anthony Lam, Emilie Tran, Irene OFFICE MANAGER Juliana Cheang [email protected] REACHING OUT! Sam, Ivo Carneiro de Sousa, Jacky I.F.