Addressing yesterday’s weekly press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus situation, Alvis Lo Iek Long, a clinical director of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, underlined that foreigners who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 will remain barred from entering Macau, as it doesn’t necessarily mean that those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 will not be infected with the novel coronavirus or possibly infect others.
Lo pointed out that those who have had COVID-19 jabs still have the probability of being infected with the novel coronavirus reduced by 80 to 90 percent, which does not mean that they won’t be infected with the disease. Lo said that those who have had COVID-19 shots could still possibly be infected with the disease but will not develop any symptoms, adding that therefore the possibility of them infecting others with the disease could not be ruled out.
“According to the latest scientific evidence, we cannot ensure that those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 will not spread the novel coronavirus, even though they do not develop any symptoms – i.e. they are asymptomatic carriers of the virus,” Lo said.
Alvis Lo Iek Long, one of the three clinical directors of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, addresses yesterday’s press conference about the city’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Photo: Tony Wong
Foreign nationals without a Macau ID card have been barred from entering the city since March 18.
Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan residents who have been to a foreign country within the past 21 days are also barred from entering Macau.
Those who have been to a foreign country or Hong Kong within the past 21 days must undergo 21 days of quarantine and medical observation at one of the government’s “quarantine hotels” upon their arrival in Macau. Those who have been to Taiwan within the past 14 days must undergo 14 days of medical observation at one of the “quarantine hotels” upon their arrival here.
Those arriving from the mainland merely have to present a nucleic acid test (NAT) certificate confirming that they have tested negative for COVID-19 within the past seven days. However, those who have been in an area in the mainland where new local COVID-19 cases have recently been confirmed also need to undergo 14 days of quarantine upon their arrival in Macau.
Lo underlined that Macau’s current entry restriction and quarantine measures will remain in force, although those from COVID-19 “high-risk” areas have started to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
This means that residents who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 returning from overseas must still undergo 21 days of medical observation at one of Macau’s quarantine hotels.
A total of 1,714 people were in hotel quarantine yesterday, according to the press conference.
Herd immunity
Meanwhile, Lo also said that the several kinds of COVID-19 vaccines slated to be delivered to Macau have a “good” effectiveness of preventing COVID-19 infection. Lo said that in case a person who has been vaccinated against COVID-19 is still infected with the disease, they could, however, significantly reduce the probability of the occurrence of a serious condition of the novel coronavirus disease or death.
Lo said that while the COVID-19 vaccination cannot fully prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, a COVID-19 herd immunity can be achieved if a sufficient number of people – i.e. around 70 percent of the population in a particular place – have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Lo said that the novel coronavirus pandemic could be brought under control after COVID-19 jabs have become commonplace worldwide.
Lo also said that the local government is striving to start vaccinating residents against COVID-19 in the next quarter.
The Macau government announced earlier this month that it has purchased 1.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines developed by three vaccine developers, comprising 400,000 doses of inactivated vaccines developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (also known as Sinopharm), 400,000 doses of mRNA vaccines developed by Germany’s BioNTech, and 400,000 doses of adenovirus vector vaccines jointly developed by the Anglo-Swedish joint venture of AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
The Macau government has said it expects the first batches of the Sinopharm and BioNTech vaccines to be delivered to Macau in the next quarter, while the first batch of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines is expected to arrive in Macau in the second quarter of next year. The government said earlier this month that the first batches of the Sinopharm, BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines to be delivered to Macau would each consist of at least 100,000 doses.
Macau has not recorded a new COVID-19 case for 185 days, while no local case has been confirmed in 274 days.
Health Code address function postponed to after New Year’s Day
Meanwhile, Lo also said that the Macau government will re-launch the function for residents to add their home address to their Macau Health Code after New Year’s Day, following its suspension due to technical malfunction last week, adding that the deadline when residents must start to fill in their address will also be postponed accordingly.
The government announced on Wednesday that residents would have to add their home address to their Macau Health Code from January 7, otherwise they would not be able to get the code generated on their smartphones.
In addition to local residents, the new requirement will also apply to non-locals living or staying in Macau, who will need to indicate the address of the place where they usually stay, such as workplaces, casinos or hotels.
The government said on Wednesday that Macau Health Code users could add their address to the code from Thursday (Christmas Eve). During a 14-day transition period which was initially slated to run until January 7, they could choose not to add the address, in which case they can still have their health code generated on their smartphones.
However, a technical malfunction occurred on the Macau Health Code system at 1:20 p.m. on Christmas Eve (the day when the new function was initially slated to start) when residents were not able to have the health code generated on their smartphones. The service resumed at 2 p.m. after an emergency repair by the Health Bureau’s (SSM) technical team. The government announced later that day that it had decided to suspend the new function of adding address information to the Macau Health Code “until further notice” as the technical team could not confirm whether the malfunction was due to the new function.
Lo said yesterday that the bureau’s technical team has confirmed that the malfunction which occurred on the Macau Health Code system on Christmas Eve was not due to the new address function, adding that the team has concluded that the malfunction was due to “abnormal” operation of the system’s server.
Lo said that Macau is still in its holiday period so that many residents have left the city, the government has decided to continue carrying out more tests of the new function before re-launching it after New Year’s Day. Lo noted that the 14-day transition period for residents to add their home address to their Macau Health Code will be postponed accordingly.
2 million NATs
Meanwhile, Lo also said that since the launch of the local government’s routine nucleic acid testing (NAT) scheme in early May, over two million people have undergone COVID-19 tests under the scheme, comprising 1.3 million local residents and 700,000 non-locals. Lo also pointed out that some 10,000 people undergo a nucleic acid test every day on average, with more people around public holidays.
