Macau’s first COVID-19 case since late June raises tally to 47
A total of 109 Macau residents who departed from 14 countries returned to Macau via two Air Macau flights from Tokyo last night – and one of them tested positive for the novel coronavirus, government announced.
According to a statement by the Government Information Bureau (GCS) late last night, a passenger, whose gender and nationality was not revealed, tested positive for COVID-19 in a rapid test upon arrival at the local airport, because of which the passenger and 10 other passengers who were sitting nearby on their Tokyo-Macau flight were taken to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane where they were awaiting the results of their nucleic acid tests (NATs) late last night.
The Health Bureau (SSM) said in a follow-up statement early today that a 43-year-old woman who returned to Macau on Air Macau flight NX867 last night is Macau’s 47th COVID-19 patient. She had departed from Dubai to Tokyo via Singapore on Tuesday. After arriving in Macau last night, the female passenger tested positive twice for COVID-19, the statement said, adding the patient was asymptomatic. The statement also said that two of the 10 other passengers have meanwhile been transferred from the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane to the Grand Coloane Resort near Hac Sa Beach.
The statement said that the other 98 passengers were taken to Grand Coloane Resort for their 21-day quarantine and medical observation, during which they will have to undergo four nucleic acid tests.
The statement pointed out that the passengers who complete their 21-day hotel quarantine will be required to practise at least seven days of “self-health management”.
According to the statement, the two flights, NX861 and NX867, departed Tokyo at 4:07 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. local time respectively. The NX861 flight passengers comprised 31 males, 30 females and two babies, while the NX867 flight passengers comprised 24 males and 22 females. The two flights arrived in Macau at 7:51 p.m. and 9:18 p.m. respectively.
The Macau government announced on Monday that it had been notified by Air Macau that 115 Macau residents departing from 13 countries such as the United Kingdom and Portugal would travel from Tokyo to Macau yesterday. Last night’s statement said that the six Macau residents who did not return to Macau as initially scheduled include one who could not board the plane in the UK due to COVID-19 positive result and five who “did not board the plane due to personal reasons”.
Last night’s statement said that the 109 residents who returned to Macau last night departed from 14 countries, namely Australia, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The 109 passengers comprised 55 males and 54 females, five of them aged above 65, the statement said, adding that 10 passengers are aged between 12 and 17 and two are aged below two.
Pointing out that the passengers went through several airports for transit flights before arriving in Tokyo, last night’s statement reaffirmed that after assessing the situation, the Macau government had concluded that the risk of the Tokyo-Macau flights for Macau having to cope with newly imported COVID-19 cases “will not be low”, with the possibility of Macau even confirming new COVID-19 patients who have been infected with the new strain of the novel coronavirus that is more contagious than the previous one.
Pointing out that the passengers are subject to the government’s “closed-loop management”, the statement pledged that the Health Bureau will remain vigilant against the COVID-19 threat and certainly not let its guard down, so as to ensure that a COVID-19 community transmission will not occur in Macau.
Today marks exactly one year since Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 case, a 52-year-old businesswoman from Wuhan who was hospitalised in Macau for 15 days.
Unlike Hong Kong Macau has so far been spared a community outbreak.
Observers have described Macau as a COVID-19 “oasis”, considering its low number of cases and zero fatalities.
Local residents wearing protective suits disembark from an Air Macau plane at the local airport last night.
Photo: GCS
