Addressing yesterday evening’s press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus situation, Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long said that during the first 48 hours of the ongoing mass nucleic acid testing (NAT) drive – which will end at 3 p.m. today, more people have been tested and more results have been given than in the first 48 hours of the city’s first-ever citywide NAT drive in early August.
The health chief said that this time Macau had achieved a more “ideal” progress of the mass testing programme than the first time thanks to the implementation of a string of improved measures.
But Lo continued to urge residents to get tested as soon as possible with the aim of avoiding a scenario of too many people undergoing their tests on the last day of the programme – until 3 p.m. today. Lo said that the earlier everyone in Macau completes his or her test – which enables all results to be available earlier, the earlier the Health Bureau will be able to complete its risk assessment of Macau’s latest COVID-19 situation and, if needed, roll out new COVID-19 prevention and control measures accordingly.
Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long speaks during yesterday’s press conference about the city’s COVID-19 situation, as Tai Wa Hou, a clinical director of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, looks on. Photo: Tony Wong
Lo underlined the “satisfactory” achievement in the ongoing mass NAT drive.
Lo said that compared to the first citywide NAT programme in early August, this time residents have a “better experience” when undergoing their COVID-19 tests at the various testing stations due to the implementation of a string of measures to improve the testing procedures, including the “full” implementation of a requirement to make a booking.
Macau launched its three-day mass NAT drive for the second time on Saturday after two Nepali security guard working at the Golden Crown China Hotel – one of the city’s “quarantine hotels” – were confirmed as COVID-19 patients earlier that day. The Health Bureau classified the two cases as “connected to an imported case” – a local male resident holding Turkish nationality who had been staying at the hotel for his 21-day quarantine after his arrival here from Turkey via Singapore on September 18 – which was confirmed on Friday as Macau’s 64th COVID-19 case.
Before their respective isolation treatment at the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane, the two Nepali security guards, the city’s 65th and 66th COVID-19 patients, lived in a building in the Inner Harbour area’s Patane district and a building in the Avenida de Horta e Costa neighbourhood respectively. The government has imposed a lockdown on both of the buildings.
Macau launched its first-ever citywide NAT drive in early August, which lasted three days, after the confirmation of a four-member Delta variant family cluster. There were no positive results among the 716,251 people tested at that time.
For the ongoing mandatory mass NAT programme, which started at 3 p.m. on Saturday, a total of 52 testing stations have been set up across the city, comprising 31 general stations, 14 self-paid stations and seven special care stations.
All local residents and people staying in Macau are required to get the test, which is free of charge. Those who had already undergone a test after 3 p.m. on Friday are exempted from the mass NAT programme.
517,223 results available last night, all negative
The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement last night that as of 9 p.m. yesterday, 650,888 people had had their swabs collected for COVID-19 tests under the mass NAT drive, and the results of 472,687 had all come up negative. In addition, the statement said, 44,536 people underwent a COVID-19 test at the city’s regular NAT stations between 3 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday – i.e., outside the mass testing programme, with all the results being negative.
Consequently, last night’s statement said, as of 9 p.m. yesterday a total of 695,424 people had undergone a COVID-19 test since 3 p.m. on Friday, with a total of 517,223 results available, all negative.
Despite the fact that the ongoing mass NAT drive will end at 3 p.m. today, last night’s statement said that tests under the programme “have basically been completed”. The statement noted that 253,185 people and 562,896 people had had their swabs collected during the first 24 hours and the first 48 hours of the second mass NAT drive, while 282,546 people and 536,437 people had had their swabs collected during the first 24 hours and the first 48 hours of the first citywide NAT programme in early August. Consequently, last night’s statement said that “the swab collection progress was going ahead at a similar pace as the last mass NAT programmes”.
During yesterday’s press conference, Tai Wa Hou, a clinical director of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, reaffirmed that the Macau Health Code of those who fail to undergo the mandatory tests under the mass NAT programme within the 72-hour period, which ends at 3 p.m. today, will become yellow – which bars them from leaving Macau, entering various premises in the city, and using public transport, urging those who have still not undergone a test to get tested before the deadline.
Tai said that similar to the follow-up measures after the first mass NAT drive in early August, the Health Bureau will send an SMS to those whose Macau Health Code becomes yellow due to their failure to undergo a COVID-19 test before the deadline, and will also contact them urging them to get tested as soon as possible.
Similar to the first round of mass testing, Tai said that the Health Bureau would ask the police to locate those who refuse to get tested after having repeatedly been asked by Health Bureau staff, and take them to testing sites.
Tai said that those who continue to refuse to be tested for COVID-19 after being located by the police will be required to undergo 14 days of medical observation at a quarantine facility.
67th COVID-19 case
Meanwhile, Macau confirmed its 67th COVID-19 case yesterday, a 37-year-old woman from Hong Kong, which has been classified as an imported case.
According to a statement by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre, the woman arrived in Macau from Hong Kong on Sunday last week (September 19) after visiting various countries in the Middle East and Europe, among them Dubai, Egypt, Croatia and Montenegro, for textile business negotiations between April 9 and July 10. She was inoculated against COVID-19 on March 11 and April 8 with the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, the statement pointed out.
After entering Macau on Sunday last week, the woman immediately started quarantine at Treasure Hotel near the local airport. She tested negative for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test on Tuesday last week. However, follow-up tests on Sunday and yesterday were positive, but with a very low viral load.
The woman’s antibodies did not indicate a recent COVID-19 infection, the statement said, adding that after also taking into account her Middle Eastern and European travel history earlier this year, the Health Bureau has classified her case as one in which “a person has later tested positive for the novel coronavirus again” in a nucleic acid test after having previously been infected with COVID-19 and recovered elsewhere.
The Health Bureau has previously pointed out that the fact that some COVID-19 patients discharged from hospital or asymptomatic carriers of the novel coronavirus have later tested positive for the virus again in a nucleic acid test is “merely a phenomenon”, which means that they have not had a relapse, i.e., suffering COVID-19 symptoms again.
The statement underlined that as the patient had never been diagnosed with the disease, the Health Bureau has decided to classify the patient as a COVID-19 imported case. The statement noted that the patient has been transferred to the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for follow-up isolation treatment. According to the statement, she showed no COVID-19 symptoms yesterday.
The Golden Crown China Hotel and Treasure Hotel have been designated by the government as quarantine and medical observation hotels. The two buildings in front of the Macau International Airport are connected.
Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 case on January 22 last year. No novel coronavirus fatalities have been reported in Macau.
During yesterday’s press conference, Lo said that the Health Bureau will carry out a nucleic acid test on the Hong Kong woman every day over the next few days. If the tests show that her viral load remains at a low level or even turns negative, Lo said, the bureau could confirm the case merely as one in which “a person has later tested positive for the novel coronavirus again in a nucleic acid test”. If the tests show that the woman’s viral load increases over the next few days, Lo said, the Health Bureau would need to study and decide whether she has been newly infected with COVID-19.
