COVID-19 is certainly not surreal -- Editorial

A pedestrian interviewed by a US TV station in New York early last week described the novel coronavirus situation as “surreal”. A local media friend of mine described the lobby of a hotel-casino resort in Cotai left empty by the COVID-19 pandemic as a “surreal” sight. Much to my surprise I have heard the word too many times – almost ad nauseam – in TV reports about the viral threat. Well, COVID-19 is surely not surreal. It is mortally real. The threat is out there, and it’s all

March 16, 2020 | BY admin

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UM teachers, students display their GBA photos

An exhibition of photos taken by teachers and students from the University of Macau’s (UM) Department of Chinese Language and Literature, titled “Teaching and Learning: Entering the Greater Bay Area”, is on display at the 10 Fantasia gallery.The event is being co-hosted by 10 Fantasia – A Creative Industries Incubator and the St. Lazarus Church District Creative Industries Promotion Association.According to a message sent by the gallery to The Macau Post Daily last week, the photos are

March 16, 2020 | BY admin

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Welsh deacon to head Macau's Catholic university USJ

The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) has announced the appointment of Stephen Morgan, a Welsh deacon who has been a professor at the Catholic university since September 2019, as its next rector. According to a USJ statement, the university's chancellor, Macau Catholic Bishop Stephen Lee Bun-sang announced during a meeting of its General Council on Saturday that the university's titleholder, the Catholic Foundation of Higher Education, appointed Prof. Morgan on March 7 as the incoming

March 15, 2020 | BY admin

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Macau extends quarantine to whole Schengen Area and beyond

The Macau government extended today its quarantine measures for arrivals to all of the 26 nations in the Schengen Area as well as the UK, US, Egypt, Australia, Russia, Canada, and Brazil. The measure, which takes effect at 0:00 on Tuesday, was announced during the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre's daily press conference about the COVID-19 epidemic. Arrivals from four Schengen Area countries - Germany, Italy, France and Spain, as well as South Korea, Iran and Japan

March 14, 2020 | BY admin

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National table tennis team training in Macau

The nation's table tennis team comprising 47 members has arrived in Macau for training, the Macau Sports Bureau (ID) has announced.According to a statement by the bureau on Friday, the team arrived in Macau via Hong Kong from Qatar on Friday. The team competed in the ITTF Tour in the emirate last month and stayed there until Friday for training.The statement stressed that for 14 days after their arrival here the team's training will take place behind closed doors. The team members will wear

March 14, 2020 | BY admin

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Macau Health Bureau recalls 'Sweet Sleep' remedy

The Macau Health Bureau (SSM) has ordered the immediate recall of a US-manufactured remedy called "LHC Sweet Sleep".According to a statement by the bureau on Friday, SSM officials detected during a route inspection that the product's  amount of microbials exceeds pharmacological criteria. The statement, which did not say when the inspection was carried out, noted that the remedy was manufactured by US-based Alfa Vitamins Laboratories Inc. The statement quoted the local

March 14, 2020 | BY admin

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Phased reopening of Macau's schools to start on April 13

After their government-order shutdown over the novel coronavirus epidemic over a month ago, Macau's schools will gradually reopen from April 13, the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) announced today.According to the announcement, the phased restart will run from April 13 to May 4. On April 13, it will be back to school for Form 4 to Form 6 pupils. However, Form 6 pupils preparing for their university admission exams can already return to school on March 30. Form 1 to Form 3 pupils

March 13, 2020 | BY admin

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Man takes deposit for flat sale without telling wife: police

A 66-year-old local man put his flat up for sale without telling his wife and received a HK$100,000 deposit from a buyer, who realised that he had been cheated after the deal couldn’t go through and he didn’t get his money back, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Choi Ian Fai said during the regular press conference on Tuesday.According to Choi, a local man in his 50s wanted to buy a flat worth HK$2.75 million in Rua do Tarrafeiro through a property agent on January 19. The man paid a

March 13, 2020 | BY admin

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Excessive preservatives found in local snack: IAM

A dried fish snack sold locally was found to contain excessive preservatives – sorbic acid which exceeded the legally permitted maximum amount in line with local health standards, the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) announced in a statement yesterday.The bureau has ordered shops to stop selling the snacks that weigh 100 grammes and expire on January 10 next year. It urged consumers not to eat them, the statement said, which did not elaborate on the health standards involved.According to the

March 13, 2020 | BY admin

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China lends hand to Europe in fight against COVID-19

ZAGREB – As China sees the light at the end of the tunnel in its fight against COVID-19, it is lending a hand to European countries, a number of which had come to China’s assistance at the early stage of the outbreak.A team of nine Chinese health experts left Shanghai for Rome yesterday on a chartered flight, two days after the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Italy topped 10,000. Along with the experts were 31 tons of intensive care and medical protective equipment.Chinese NGOs are

March 13, 2020 | BY admin

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With COVID-19 basically curbed, nation pushes ahead with battle against economic fallout

New Analysis    BEIJING – After securing an upper hand in its all-out confrontation with the novel coronavirus on home turf, China is warily repositioning itself to fight the economic fallouts of the outbreak already declared as a pandemic.In stark contrast to the rapid spread elsewhere in the world, the COVID-19 spread has been basically contained in China, with new risks largely coming from imported cases. The National Health Commission (NHC) said it received reports of 15 new

March 13, 2020 | BY admin

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The Lancet features UM scholar’s articles on mental health care during COVID-19 epidemic

The University of Macau (UM) said a statement yesterday that four articles on mental health care during the current novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic written by its research team led by Prof Xiang Yutao from the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) have been published in the latest editions of British medical journals The Lancet and Lancet Psychiatry.The Lancet is widely considered the oldest and most influential journal in the medical field. Founded by an English surgeon in 1823, The Lancet is

March 13, 2020 | BY admin

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Two worlds apart -- Quiet vs lively

Commentary by Swallow Xu*       Pablo Neruda’s poetic lines, “I like you when you are quiet because it is as though you are absent…”, hit me when I was walking in a dead quiet street at night in a Zhuhai neighbourhood with a lot of tutorial centres, all of which used to keep their doors open so that passers-by could see the schoolchildren inside, doing homework or taking courses in piano, guzheng (Chinese zither), and even chess. Music flew in the air while many

March 13, 2020 | BY admin

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Registrations for consumption e-card to start next week

Cards cannot be used for utility bills, ferry & air tickets, in casinos & banksSecretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon, also the spokesman for the government’s top advisory Executive Council, announced yesterday that local residents can register to obtain a 3,000-pataca consumption e-card from next Wednesday to April 8, before they can start to pick up the card between April 14 and April 30, while they will need to use their cards between May 1 and July

March 13, 2020 | BY admin

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