MACAO, March 17 (Xinhua) -- All non-residents, with the exception of residents from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and China's Taiwan region, and work permit holders, will be barred from entering Macao starting from midnight of March 18, the Macao SAR's Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng announced Tuesday.

The update on local entry restrictions came as Macao reported two imported COVID-19 cases on Sunday and Tuesday respectively, one from Porto of Portugal and the other from Madrid of Spain.

The chief executive made the announcement in accordance with the Basic Law of the Macao SAR and Law on the Prevention, Control and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, a communique by the Macao SAR government said.

Macao had not reported any COVID-19 cases for 40 consecutive days until Sunday. All the previous 10 confirmed cases had recovered and were discharged from the hospital.