Three residents, Ms Fu, Mr. So and Ms Lam, told The Macau Post Daily yesterday that they will be extra cautious during the Chinese New Year (CNY) when dining out or visiting others, especially as they all have children.
All three respondents were interviewed in front of The Affiliated School of University of Macau in Taipa.
Fu said that she was worried that there would be more people entering Macau during CNY, increasing the risk of spreading COVID-19. She also said that because she has a young child the family would try to visit family members or friends less during that CNY holidays.
So said that he was not too worried about the spread of the novel coronavirus in Macau. He added that he did not mind mainlanders visiting the city but he hoped that the government would be stricter about residents returning from overseas. So also said that the COVID-19 pandemic would not hinder his CNY plans, stressing that he would be more cautious when taking the children out.
Lam told The Macau Post Daily that her family was not planning to travel during CNY. She also said that she would eat out less during the holiday week. She added that she trusted the government so she was not too worried about the possibility of a COVID-19 outbreak in Macau.
During a weekly press conference about the Macau novel coronavirus issue on January 11, a clinical director of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, Alvis Lo Iek Long, said that local residents should spend the CNY holiday in Macau and avoid “unnecessary travel” outside Macau, as the city continues to be subject to an external COVID-19 risk, with the aim of protecting Macau from the highly infectious disease that has killed over two million people worldwide since early last year.
According to the worldometers.info website, as of last night the world had recorded over 100 million cases with 2.14 million deaths. Macau has had no deaths and only 47 cases since its first case was confirmed on January 22 last year.
