Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U has urged residents not to hold wedding banquets and community associations not to organise banquets in celebration of the upcoming Chinese New Year, amid a potential threat to Macau by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant globally.
The policy secretary, whose portfolio includes the city’s health service, also underlined that lunch and dinner gatherings entail a higher risk of possible COVID-19 spread as people need to remove their facemasks while eating.
Ao Ieong made the remarks while speaking to reporters on Friday after attending a closed-door committee meeting in the Legislative Assembly (AL).
In a statement on Friday, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre said that new COVID-19 cases have been drastically increasing in many countries due to the ongoing rapid and serious spread of the Omicron variant worldwide, and Hong Kong and various provinces and cities in the mainland are being hit by new COVID-19 waves. The statement said that the findings of epidemiological investigations have indicated that the ongoing local COVID-19 transmissions in Hong Kong and certain areas in the mainland have been caused by crowded gatherings.
Consequently, the statement underlined, Macau is facing a “very serious” COVID-19 threat, urging residents to remain vigilant against the novel coronavirus, stick to COVID-19 personal protection measures such as wearing a facemask, and avoid attending events involving crowded gatherings such as wedding banquets, festive banquets, and various other lunch and dinner parties.
The statement also urged staff members of the city’s various venues and facilities to strictly carry out COVID-19 measures such as always checking the temperature of all those entering and ensuring that eveyone inside sticks to social distancing. The statement also urged residents to avoid unnecessary visits to medium- or high-risk COVID-19 areas.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Ao Ieong said that even though Macau has only recorded a small number of imported Omicron cases, Macau is facing a very serious COVID-19 threat due to the rapid and serious spread of the Omicron variant globally.
In case certain community associations still decide to organise certain events in celebration of the upcoming Chinese New Year, Ao Ieong urged them to avoid holding banquets and instead to organise their celebratory events in a way where guests would not need to take off their facemasks.
Ao Ieong also reaffirmed that the local government is studying the possibility of requiring those entering restaurants and eateries, and certain other indoor venues and facilities where people normally stay for a longer time, to have been inoculated against the novel coronavirus or to have tested negative for COVID-19. The policy secretary underlined that for the time being the government does not have a timetable as to when such a jab-or-test measure will be rolled out.
Ao Ieong said that even though the government has still not decided when it will roll out a mandatory jab-or-test measure for those entering certain venues and facilities, unjabbed residents, senior citizens in particular, should get inoculated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, due to the “unprecedentedly” rapid spread of Omicron.
One more arrival from Philippines has COVID-19
Meanwhile, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement on Friday morning that one more arrival from the Philippines had tested positive for COVID-19.
The case has been classified as imported and asymptomatic, because of which it has not been added to Macau’s COVID-19 tally.
Consequently, as of last night, the city’s novel coronavirus tally remained at 79.
The centre identified the male patient as a 47-year-old local resident who received two Sinovac inactivated jabs, in September and October respectively.
According to Friday’s statement, the man tested negative for COVID-19 in three nucleic acid tests (NATs) in the Philippines, on New Year’s Day, Sunday and Monday last week. He flew to Singapore on Tuesday last week and caught a connecting flight from Singapore to Macau the next day where he also tested negative for the novel coronavirus upon arrival, after which he was transferred to a quarantine hotel for medical observation.
However, according to Friday’s statement, the man tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday night, after which he was transferred to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane.
All passenger flights arriving in Macau from foreign destinations have been banned since yesterday until January 23. Passenger flights from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan will continue.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U talks to reporters in the Legislative Assembly (AL) on Friday. Photo: GCS
