The Macau government announced last night that those working for the city’s parcel pick-up points will soon be covered by its regular COVID-19 testing programme, in the wake of the fact that goods bought through mainland online shopping platforms might also have been contaminated with the novel coronavirus.
The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced the measure in a statement, according to which the affected staff members will be required to undergo a COVID-19 nucleic acid test (NAT) every seven days.
Parcel pick-up points in Macau are courier service outlets where clients collect parcels containing items that they have bought through the various mainland online shopping platforms and have been delivered to Macau.
Goods that people in Macau have bought through mainland online shopping platforms are normally not directly delivered to Macau, and instead they are delivered to goods-receiving points in Zhuhai or Zhongshan. Staff members of the parcel pick-up points in Macau regularly travel to the goods-receiving points in Zhuhai or Zhongshan to receive the goods, and arrange for them to be delivered to Macau, so that clients in Macau can just go to the parcel pick-up points here to receive their goods.
Last night’s statement by the centre said that due to the fact that goods bought from the mainland online also carry the risk of having been contaminated with the novel coronavirus, the Macau Health Bureau (SSM) has decided that its regular COVID-19 testing programme for “key” groups of people working in certain occupations will soon cover those working for online-shopping parcel pick-up points in Macau who come into contact with goods.
The statement reaffirmed that parcels and letters delivered from COVID-19-hit areas carry a risk of having been contaminated with the novel coronavirus, because of which those who come into contact with such parcels and letters also carry a risk of having been infected with COVID-19. Consequently, the statement noted, the local government has rolled out various precautionary measures for the issue.
According to the statement, the government has urged members of the public to receive parcels and letters delivered from COVID-19-hit areas less often. Those who need to receive parcels and letters delivered from areas affected by COVID-19 should take precautionary measures to carefully handle the items, the statement said.
The government has also requested companies and organisations that handle a large number of parcels and letters delivered from COVID-19-hit areas, such as courier service companies, to take additional precautionary measures for their staff members, such as arranging for them to be tested for COVID-19 regularly, the statement said.
According to the statement, the Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT) is asking the city’s online-shopping parcel pick-up points to provide the bureau with their staff members’ personal information, after which DSEDT officials will pass information to the Health Bureau.
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The new measure announced last night came after a government announcement on Tuesday according to which all those working for local importers, distributors or supermarkets who come into contact with goods are now covered by the Health Bureau’s regular COVID-19 testing programme.
Taiwan visitor has asymptomatic COVID-19
Meanwhile, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in another statement last night that a visitor from Taiwan 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 82.
The patient is a 54-year-old man from Taiwan who received three Sinovac inactivated jabs, in April, May and July last year respectively. He tested negative for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test (NAT) in Taiwan on Tuesday. He flew from Taiwan to Macau yesterday, and tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon arrival here, because of which he has been transferred to the Health Bureau’s Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for isolation.
The asymptomatic COVID-19 patient has told Health Bureau officials that he had never been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease.
In addition to the total of 82 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the centre pointed out yesterday that Macau has now reported a total of 55 asymptomatic COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.
Since December last year, the Macau government has separately classified and announced asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and confirmed COVID-19 cases.
COVID-19 close contact in Macau of Zhuhai case
Meanwhile, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement yesterday that a 24-year-old female mainlander studying in the public University of Macau (UM) has been identified as a close contact of a confirmed COVID-19 patient in Zhuhai.
The Zhuhai health authorities announced a new COVID-19 case on Tuesday morning, a 26-year-old man who lives and works in Tangjiawan (唐家灣) town in Zhuhai.
Yesterday’s statement by the centre said that the Zhuhai health authorities told their Macau counterparts on Tuesday night that a person in Macau had been in contact with the man, who was confirmed as a COVID-19 patient on Tuesday morning, because of which the person – the female student – has been classified as a COVID-19 close contact.
In response, the statement said, the Macau Health Bureau has meanwhile transferred the COVID-19 close contact to its Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for quarantine. She has tested negative for COVID-19.
On Monday morning, the female student was in the same lift as the man in a building in Zhuhai, when she was wearing a facemask but the man was not, the statement said.
On Monday afternoon, the student returned to the University of Macau campus where she went to a laboratory and an office, and attended a yoga class on the campus that night, the statement said.
According to the statement, the Macau Health Bureau has identified a total of 22 people who had been in contact with the 24-year-old female student. All of them have been transferred to hotel quarantine, and have tested negative for COVID-19.
“A close contact of a close contact” of a confirmed COVID-19 patient is known as a “secondary COVID-19 close contact”.
The statement urged residents to adhere to the practice of wearing a facemask, particularly when they are taking the lift.
Imports of 23 types of COVID-19 rapid test kits allowed
Meanwhile, the Macau Pharmaceutical Supervision and Administration Bureau (ISAF) said in a statement yesterday that it has authorised the imports of 23 types COVID-19 rapid antigen test kits into Macau.
The statement also urged residents to always choose reputable shops, including pharmacies, when buying COVID-19 rapid antigen test kits.
According to the bureau’s website, the 23 products are manufactured in the mainland, as well as France, Germany, South Korea, and the United States.
This photo taken earlier this month shows a local parcel pick-up point for clients to collect goods bought online from the mainland.
Photo courtesy of TDM
