The Macau Health Bureau (SSM) said yesterday that it has purchased the newly-developed COVID-19 pills, which are slated to be delivered to Macau at the end of this quarter at the earliest.
The bureau also said that it has come up with a contingency plan for a possible scenario in which Macau is hard hit by a large number of new local COVID-19 cases.
Leong Iek Hou, who heads the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Division of the Health Bureau, made the remarks while speaking to reporters after attending a current affairs phone-in programme hosted by Ou Mun Tin Toi, the Chinese-language radio channel of public broadcaster TDM.
According to Leong, medicines that are given by injection for the treatment of the novel coronavirus disease are currently available in Macau’s public medical system for COVID-19 patients in need. There are two types of the COVID-19 injection medicines, one for those with mild or moderate symptoms and the other for those suffering a serious condition, Leong said.
COVID-19 patients in Macau, regardless of having symptoms or being asymptomatic carriers, are transferred to either the Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre – Macau’s only public hospital – or the Health Bureau’s Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for isolation treatment.
Leong also said that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) drugs for the treatment of the novel coronavirus disease are also available in Macau’s public medical system, adding that the TCM drugs, which are manufactured in the mainland, can help stop the condition of seriously-ill COVID-19 patients from further deteriorating.
Leong said that the Health Bureau has purchased several kinds of the newly-developed antiviral pills for the treatment of the novel coronavirus disease from pharmaceutical manufacturers, adding that one of them is slated to be delivered to Macau at the end of the current quarter at the earliest.
Contingency plans for different COVID-19 situations
Meanwhile, Leong also underlined that the Macau government has come up with contingency plans for the possible occurrence of different levels of COVID-19 situations in Macau.
Leong noted that currently all COVID-19 patients are transferred to “first-level” medical facilities – namely the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre or the Public Health Clinical Centre – for isolation treatment, thanks to the small number of new COVID-19 cases and the fact that Macau is not being hit by local transmissions, i.e., only reporting new COVID-19 cases that have been imported.
Leong said that in case Macau starts to see many COVID-19 patients, they would be transferred to a community treatment and isolation facility, the setting-up of which, she said, is being planned by the local government.
In case Macau is hard hit by a large number of new COVID-19 cases, the local government would arrange for more temporary isolation facilities to house the patients so that they would not stay at home, with the aim of preventing them from infecting their family members, according to Leong, who said that this would enable health workers to closely monitor the patients’ state of health so as to prevent serious cases or deaths.
Leong said that in a worst-case scenario in which temporary isolation facilities are full, the government would have to arrange for those with mild symptoms or asymptomatic patients to stay at home for quarantine.
mRNA jabs for kids
Meanwhile, Leong said during yesterday’s phone-in programme that the Macau Health Bureau has ordered mRNA COVID-19 vaccines specifically for children from the manufacturer, but still does not know when they will be delivered to Macau.
Two types of COVID-19 vaccines are currently available in Macau, China’s Sinopharm inactivated vaccine and Germany’s BioNTech mRNA vaccine. Currently, Sinopharm jabs are administered to those aged three or over in Macau, while BioNTech shots are given to those aged 12 or over.
Children aged between 3 and 11 in Macau have been covered by the government’s COVID-19 vaccination programme since late November when it lowered the minimum age for Sinopharm jabs from 12 to 3.
The Health Bureau first revealed last month that it was discussing the possible purchase of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines specifically for children with the manufacturer.
Leong said yesterday that the Health Bureau has also set up a working group to study the feasibility of “diluting” mRNA doses used for those aged 12 or over, i.e., the use of a fractional dose of the vaccine, a practice similar to the one implemented in Hong Kong, so that the mRNA vaccine can be administered to those aged between 3 and 11 in Macau.
In Hong Kong, children aged between 5 and 11 are given one-third of a dose of BioNTech mRNA vaccine used for those aged 12 or over.
1 more arrival from HK has COVID-19
Meanwhile, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced yesterday that one more arrival from Hong Kong has tested positive for COVID-19.
The centre has classified the case as imported and asymptomatic, because of which it has not been added to Macau’s novel coronavirus tally, which therefore remains at 80.
The centre identified the patient as a 50-year-old local woman who received her first and second mRNA jab in June, before receiving an mRNA booster jab earlier this month.
According to a statement by the centre, the woman travelled from Hong Kong to Macau on a shuttle bus (aka Golden Bus) via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) on Monday, and tested negative for the novel coronavirus upon arrival here, after which she was transferred to Regency Art Hotel – one of the government’s “quarantine hotels” – for medical observation. However, according to the statement, she tested positive for COVID-19 in a follow-up test on Tuesday.
The woman has been transferred to the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for isolation treatment.
Since December last year, the Macau government has separately classified and announced asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and confirmed COVID-19 cases.
In addition to the total of 80 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the statement pointed out that Macau has reported a total of 29 asymptomatic COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.
Meanwhile, Leong said during yesterday’s phone-in programme that the latest findings of research studies in the UK have reaffirmed that COVID-19 vaccinations can effectively reduce the risk of suffering a serious condition or dying from the novel coronavirus disease. Leong also said that more residents have received their COVID-19 jabs recently, around 3,000 getting their jabs per day over recent days.
Leong said that the COVID-19 vaccination rate amongst children aged between 3 and 11 has increased to around nine percent from six percent over recent days, but their jab rate currently is still low, she said.
Leong also said that out of 102 COVID-19 fatalities reported in Hong Kong during its current outbreak, 92 had not been inoculated against the novel coronavirus.
Leong Iek Hou, who heads the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Division, speaks to reporters after yesterday’s phone-in programme hosted by public broadcaster TDM’s Chinese-language radio channel. Photo courtesy of TDM
