Addressing yesterday’s weekly press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus situation, Tai Wa Hou, the coordinator of the Health Bureau’s (SSM) COVID-19 vaccination programme, announced that the government will set up a COVID-19 vaccination facility at the Macau Forum complex in Zape, where 2,000 places for inoculations are expected to be available per day.
Tai did not give a timetable as to when the “large-sized community vaccination station” will comes into service, but said that the government aims to open it as soon as possible.
“The government is now intensively planning and preparing the setting-up [of the new vaccination facility at Macau Forum], striving to get it into service soon,” Tai said.
Tai said that the opening hours of the new inoculation facility at Macau Forum would depend on residents’ desire to be inoculated against COVID-19.
“For the time being, residents’ demand for COVID-19 vaccinations is not large. We will gradually increase the number of quotas per day [after the inoculation facility at Macau Forum opens] after constantly assessing residents’ demand,” Tai said.
The government’s free COVID-19 vaccination drive covers local residents, non-resident workers and non-local students enrolled in Macau. However, all other non-locals who hold a permit to stay in Macau, such as the family members of non-resident workers employed in Macau, have to pay 250 patacas per jab – which means that they have to pay 500 patacas to be inoculated against COVID-19 considering that each person requires two jabs.
MUST to join COVID-19 inoculations
Meanwhile, Tai also announced that a COVID-19 inoculation facility will open at the University Hospital run by the private Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Taipa next Monday, with 150 places available per day.
According to Tai, only Sinopharm inoculations will be available initially after the new vaccination facility at MUST’s University Hospital comes into service.
Potential vaccinees can make an appointment through the government’s COVID-19 vaccination booking system from 10 a.m. on Friday to get their jabs at the University Hospital inoculation facility, Tai said.
The upcoming opening of the University Hospital inoculation facility comes after a COVID-19 vaccination facility at the private Kiang Wu Hospital got off the ground last month.
Macau’s COVID-19 vaccinations are currently carried out at 13 facilities, comprising two inoculation facilities at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, eight public health centres, two public health stations, and Kiang Wu Hospital, with about 5,200 places for inoculations available per day.
According to Tai, COVID-19 inoculations at the University Hospital will be provided for local residents, non-resident workers and non-local students enrolled in Macau.
When the Kiang Wu inoculation facility came into service last month, COVID-19 vaccinations were only provided for local residents and non-resident workers. Tai said yesterday that inoculations at Kiang Wu Hospital have already been extended to non-local students enrolled in Macau.
All other non-locals can only choose to get their COVID-19 jabs at the two facilities at the public hospital, the eight public health centres and the two public health stations.
Currently, those aged 60 or over can only get vaccinated against COVID-19 at one of the two inoculation facilities at the public hospital.
Among the 13 current inoculation facilities, the public hospital’s blood sample collection room, the Ocean Gardens Health Centre and the Ilha Verde Health Centre are used only for BioNTech inoculations. The other 10 vaccination facilities, including Kiang Wu Hospital and the one at the public hospital’s outpatient departments, are used for Sinopharm inoculations only.
Macau has not recorded a new COVID-19 case for 33 days, while no local case has been confirmed in 407 days.
Macau has recorded 49 COVID-19 cases since January 22 last year, 47 of which have been classified as imported, while two cases have been classified as “connected to imported cases”. The 49 patients have all been cured and discharged from hospital, and no fatalities have been reported in Macau, which has been spared a community transmission of the novel coronavirus disease.
As of 4 p.m. yesterday, 120,294 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered to 78,460 people in Macau, comprising 36,471 who had received their first jab and 41,989 who had received their second jab.
A total of six adverse events were reported in the past 24 hours (until 4 p.m. yesterday). The total number of adverse events since the start of the vaccination drive stood at 548, or 0.46 percent of the total number of jabs, including two serious cases.
Govt mulls lifting NAT requirement
Meanwhile, Tai also said that considering Macau’s currently low COVID-19 risk, the government was studying the feasibility of lifting its requirement for certain groups of people, 14 days after having been fully (twice) vaccinated against COVID-19, to undergo a nucleic acid test (NAT), namely participants in collective festive events or recreational and sports activities, and those attending a banquet with over 400 guests.
Tai said that once the government has finished studying the matter, it would announce the measure’s details.
Cyberattacks from outside Macau
Meanwhile, Tai also said that the “malicious” cyberattacks on Friday and Saturday targeting the Health Bureau were carried out on its various webpages on the Internet rather than its internal network system, meaning that the attacks only affected its various online services provided to the public via the Internet. The cyberattacks did not affect the bureau’s internal network system and data storage system, meaning that no data have been damaged or leaked.
Tai underlined that the bureau has transferred the case to the Judiciary Police (PJ) for investigation. Tai also said that the cyberattacks were carried out by someone from outside Macau “with unknown motives”.
Tai said that with the assistance by the Judiciary Police’s Cybersecurity Incidents Alert and Response Centre, the Health Bureau has been working closely with telecom operator CTM to apply various advanced IT technologies to guard against possible cyberattacks again, with the aim of minimising possible impacts on residents using the bureau’s online services should cyberattacks occur again.
Tai underlined that in case the bureau’s IT system is attacked again, his bureau was “confident about its capability” to fight the cyberattacks.
Tai Wa Hou, the coordinator of the Health Bureau’s (SSM) COVID-19 vaccination programme, addresses yesterday’s press conference about the city’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Photo: Tony Wong
