Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said yesterday that the Macau government expects the city’s COVID-19 situation to return to normal within 14 days, after this week’s detection of the Delta variant family cluster and yesterday morning’s launch of a three-day mass nucleic acid testing drive.
During a 90-minute special press conference at Government Headquarters which started at 1 p.m., Ho also said that the government does not rule out the possibility of launching additional rounds of mass nucleic acid tests if COVID-19 cases are detected during the current round of testing that is slated to end on Saturday.
The press conference was also attended by Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak and Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U.
Ho also said that the Macau government decided to launch the mass testing for everyone after listening to advice from Zhong Nanshan, the nation’s renowned virologist, pulmonologist and respiratory disease expert, who, according to Ho, urged Macau “not to hesitate” to launch a citywide testing drive as soon as possible.
The chief executive also apologised for yesterday morning’s malfunctioning of the Macau Health Code system – when the mass testing started. The glitch resulted in very long queues outside many of the city’s testing stations.
The government announced yesterday that various entertainment businesses such as cinemas, karaoke bars, saunas, discos and massage parlours were to be closed from midnight – i.e. 00:00 today.
Casinos remain open
Ho also stressed during yesterday’s press conference that Macau’s over three dozen casinos will remain open, pointing out that both gaming workers and gamblers are required to wear facemasks which is not the case in other entertainment venues.
The government shut Macau’s casinos for 15 days in February last year. Casinos are Macau’s main breadwinners, generating about half of the local GDP and over three quarters of the government’s receipts.
The ongoing three-day mass testing is scheduled to end at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Walk-in tests were initially available under the citywide nucleic acid testing (NAT) drive, which is being carried out 24/7 at 41 stations across the city, but from yesterday afternoon everyone must make an appointment to be tested for COVID-19 under the campaign – i.e. those who have not made an appointment are not accepted for undergoing the test.
Macau confirmed four COVID-19 cases on Tuesday afternoon, a family of four comprising a couple and their two children, a schoolboy and a schoolgirl. The Health Bureau (SSM) said on Tuesday that it believes that the 12-year-old girl was infected with the novel coronavirus when she flew from Zhuhai to Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province, on July 19. The Zhuhai-Xi’an flight was the same aeroplane used for a flight from Nanjing to Zhuhai earlier that day. Two passengers on the July 19 Nanjing-Zhuhai flight were confirmed as COVID-19 patients later last month in Zhongshan and Zhuhai respectively. The schoolgirl took part in a six-day dance exchange trip to Xi’an from July 19 to 24 organised by her school, Hou Kong Middle School. The Health Bureau believes that the schoolgirl infected her parents and brother after returning to Macau from the trip.
The Health Bureau has classified the schoolgirl’s case as an imported case, while her three family members’ cases have been classified as “connected to imported cases”.
During yesterday’s press conference, Ho said that he and all his policy secretaries had a video conference yesterday morning with officials from the Guangdong government and from the relevant entities of the central government, discussing follow-up measures in response to Macau’s new COVID-19 situation. Ho said that if the COVID-19 family cluster really originated from the girl’s Zhuhai-Xi’an flight – as the Health Bureau believes, rather than from possible hidden transmission chains in the community, the government expects to bring Macau’s current COVID-19 situation under control within 14 days, after which, he said, Macau would be removed from the central government’s list of medium- or high-risk COVID-19 areas.
“We hope that we can put an end to the current situation within 14 days,” Ho said.
The chief executive also said that he had a telephone conversation with Zhong, a senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, on Tuesday night when they discussed Macau’s new COVID-19 situation. Zhong has frequently advises the Macau government on how it should tackle the novel coronavirus situation, Ho said, adding that the government has been carrying out its COVID-19 prevention and control work accordingly.
‘Quick, bold, accurate’ measures
According to Zhong’s advice, Ho said, the Health Bureau will carry out serology tests on all those who are undergoing quarantine after being identified as having been in close contact with the latest four COVID-19 patients – who had visited various places and venues in the city before being confirmed as COVID-19 patients on Tuesday. The four family members have been diagnosed with carrying the Delta variant.
According to Ho, Zhong told him that cases and data worldwide have indicated that the Delta variant is highly contagious – one infectee can spread the disease to up to eight or nine people on average, because of which, Ho quoted Zhong as saying, prevention and control measures must be rolled out in a “quick, bold and accurate” manner to contain the possible transmissions caused by the Delta variant.
Consequently, according to Ho, Zhong urged the Macau government “not to hesitate” to carry out a mass NAT campaign for everyone in the city.
Testing is mandatory for all those who wish to leave Macau, enter certain premises or take public transport, as those who fail to take the test and come up with a negative result within the three-day period will have their Macau Health Code colour turn yellow. Those who test negative will have their Macau Health Code stay green. Those who test positive will have their Macau Health Code turn red and will be taken into isolation treatment.
Ho also noted that Zhong has been advising the Macau government since early last year on its COVID-19 prevention and control work.
Ho also said that the government has decided not to close the city’s casinos because this time it is different from early last year, when the government needed to close casinos to contain the possible outbreak after a number of residents working in casino resorts were confirmed as COVID-19 patients.
Ho underlined that if COVID-19 cases are detected involving any of the city’s casinos, the government would “immediately” close the affected casino.
Ho also said that if the current COVID-19 situation ends within 14 days, the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) direct and indirect elections can take place on September 12 as scheduled.
Ho also reaffirmed that the government will not roll out pecuniary measures to boost COVID-19 vaccinations, underlining that COVID-19 inoculations in Macau are voluntary. But he again urged residents to be inoculated against COVID-19.
Hou Kong School to blame?
Ho said that Hou Kong Middle School is responsible for the COVID-19 family cluster as it organised an exchange trip to the mainland when COVID-19 infections had already been reported in Nanjing airport. Ho underlined that local schools should always carefully assess the latest COVID-19 situation in the mainland before going on exchange trips. But Ho was quick to add that the school is not to be completely blamed for the situation because at the time of the trip Xi’an was not affected by the mainland’s current wave of local COVID-19 transmissions.
Ho noted that Hou Kong Middle School published an apology in some local newspapers yesterday, indicating that the school is aware that “there’s some room for improvement in its work”. Ho said he hopes that the school will “learn a lesson” from the incident.
Ho also said that Macau has to face the reality that it has confirmed an imported case and three cases connected to the imported case after having recorded no new local COVID-19 cases – i.e. cases connected to imported ones – for over 490 consecutive days.
The latest four COVID-19 cases have raised Macau’s total number of novel coronavirus cases to 63. Before the four cases, Macau’s total of 59 COVID-19 cases comprised 57 imported cases and two cases connected to imported ones.
Row 54
Ho also revealed that the schoolgirl on the July 19 Zhuhai-Xi’an flight sat in the same row of seats – row 54 – in the aeroplane as the two passengers on the July 19 Nanjing-Zhuhai flight who were confirmed as COVID-19 patients in Zhongshan and Zhuhai respectively. Consequently, Ho said, the Health Bureau believes that the girl was infected with COVID-19 on the aeroplane.
Ho said that he told Health Bureau officials yesterday morning to assess whether loopholes are existing in the local airport’s procedures to clean and disinfect aeroplanes.
Only 1 vaccination site stays open
Meanwhile, the government has suspended COVID-19 vaccinations at all inoculation facilities in the city except the Mong Ha facility as it has to focus its resources on the ongoing mass NAT drive, the Health Bureau announced during yesterday afternoon’s regular press conference about the COVID-19 situation. Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long urged residents not to criticise the Delta variant family cluster as novel coronavirus patients are victims.
Lo also said that two of the four patients, the parents, had been fully inoculated with the Sinopharm inactivated vaccine at least 14 days before they were diagnosed with COVID-19 early this week.
Flanked by Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak (left) and Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U (right), Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng addresses yesterday’s special press conference at Government Headquarters about Macau’s new COVID-19 situation. Photo: GCS
Residents queue outside São José Diocesan No. 2 School, one of the government’s 41 testing stations under its ongoing mass nucleic acid testing (NAT) drive, yesterday. Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
