Addressing yesterday’s press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus situation, the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Control of Communicable Diseases and Surveillance of Diseases Department Coordinator Leong Iek Hou said that since the launch of the government’s COVID-19 vaccination drive last week, over 10,000 people have made an appointment to be inoculated against the novel coronavirus, some 2,000 of whom have meanwhile had their first jab.
Of the over 10,000 people, about 2,200 have made an appointment to get their jabs next Monday, when the government’s COVID-19 vaccinations for all local residents start, according to Leong.
The government’s inoculation drive started on Tuesday last week covering those in priority groups such as medical workers, firefighters, police and customs officers, air crew members, public transport drivers, staff of social service facilities, teaching staff and casino workers – i.e. the campaign’s first phase, before the second phase, which will cover all local residents, commences next Monday. Local residents could start to make an appointment on Tuesday last week for their COVID-19 vaccinations.
The local government has said that it will only decide when its COVID-19 vaccinations for non-resident workers, non-local students enrolled in Macau and all other non-locals who hold a permit to stay in Macau – i.e. the vaccination drive’s third phase – will start after assessing the operation of its COVID-19 vaccination drive’s first phase and second phase and the availability of COVID-19 vaccines in Macau.
The COVID-19 jabs are free of charge for local residents, non-resident workers and non-local students. However, other non-locals such as the family members of non-resident workers employed in Macau will have to pay 250 patacas per jab – which means that they will have to pay 500 patacas to be vaccinated against COVID-19 considering that each person requires two jabs. The vaccination drive is carried out on a voluntary basis.
The weekly COVID-19 press conference, which is normally held every Monday, was rescheduled to yesterday for this week due to the government’s five-day Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday period from Friday to Tuesday.
The local government has said that people will need to have the second shot four weeks after being given their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccination. The government has also said that most of those who have had the two jabs will develop COVID-19 immunity after two weeks.
Health Bureau (SSM) Control of Communicable Diseases and Surveillance of Diseases Department Coordinator Leong Iek Hou addresses yesterday’s press conference about the city’s novel coronavirus situation. Photo: GCS
Over 10,000 sign up for jabs
During yesterday evening’s press conference, Leong said that as of 4 p.m. yesterday, over 10,000 people have made an appointment to have their COVID-19 jabs, some 4,300 of whom belong to the priority groups, adding that about 2,000 of them have had their first shot.
Concerning the remaining some 8,000 people, Leong said that about 2,200 of them have made an appointment to get their jabs on Monday next week, the first day of the start of the government’s COVID-19 vaccination drive for all local residents, when the highest number of people so far has made an appointment to get their shots.
Macau’s COVID-19 vaccinations are currently carried out at two inoculation facilities at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, eight public health centres and two public health stations.
The first batch of inactivated vaccines developed by Beijing-based China National Pharmaceutical Group (also known as Sinopharm) – 100,000 doses – was delivered to Macau on February 6. The Macau government has ordered a total of 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines. It said last week that the remaining 400,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines will be delivered to Macau at the end of this month.
Leong reaffirmed that as mRNA vaccines developed by Germany’s BioNTech will only be delivered to Macau late this month or early next month, the local government does not have a timetable for the time being as to when the inoculations of BioNTech vaccines will start.
Leong noted that the government’s 12 COVID-19 vaccination facilities run from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. She urged residents “not to have a wait-and-see attitude” and instead to make an appointment to get COVID-19 jabs to protect themselves and their family members from the novel coronavirus, apart from helping create herd immunity in Macau.
Also addressing yesterday’s press conference, Alvis Lo Iek Long, a clinical director of the public hospital, noted that 5,000 places for COVID-19 vaccinations are available per day, adding that the government will increase the number of available places per day in line with the possible increase in the number of residents making an appointment to have COVID-19 jabs.
According to Lo, Macau has not recorded a new COVID-19 case for 11 days, while no local case has been confirmed in 325 days.
47th and 48th patients
Macau has recorded 48 COVID-19 cases since January 22 last year, 46 of which have been classified as imported, while two cases have been classified as “connected to imported cases”. The first 46 patients have all been cured and discharged from hospital, and no fatalities have been reported in Macau.
Lo said yesterday that the 47th and 48th COVID-19 patients – who were among the 109 passengers returning to Macau last month on two Air Macau flights from Tokyo – will undergo their recovery period isolation at the Health Bureau’s Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane if they test negative for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test (NAT) tomorrow.
The 47th patient, a 43-year-old local woman who was confirmed as a COVID-19 patient on January 22 after returning to Macau from Dubai, suffered a slight fever when she was hospitalised but has been fever-free since last Wednesday, Lo pointed out.
According to Lo, the 48th patient, a 30-year-old local male Portuguese national who was confirmed as a COVID-19 patient on February 5 after returning to Macau from Lisbon, has been asymptomatic since he was hospitalised.
A total of 109 Macau residents who departed from 14 countries returned to Macau via the two Air Macau flights from Tokyo on January 21. Apart from the 47th and 48th COVID-19 patients, a 43-year-old local man was transferred from Grand Coloane Resort – one of the government’s “quarantine hotels” – to the Coloane Public Health Clinical Centre after testing positive for the novel coronavirus in his antibody test early this month. The Portuguese national’s girlfriend was also transferred to the Coloane Public Health Clinical Centre early this month as she was classified as having been in close contact with her boyfriend.
According to Lo, the other passengers and the two flights’ 16 crew members, who completed their 21-day quarantine on Thursday last week, will complete their seven-day “self-health management” today. The colour of their Macau Health Code will turn to green today from the yellow it was during the “self-health management” period if they tested negative for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test (NAT) last night, according to Lo.
