Two local residents who returned to Macau from Canada and Portugal on Saturday respectively have tested positive for COVID-19, Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced yesterday.
According to a statement by the centre, the first asymptomatic patient is an 18-year-old woman who had previously received three mRNA jabs. She tested negative for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test (NAT) in Canada on Wednesday last week, before flying to the United Kingdom on Friday, when she flew to Singapore. She caught a connecting flight to Macau the next day.
The young woman underwent a COVID-19 nucleic acid test upon arrival at the local airport on Saturday, but it came up with an uncertain result, after which she was transferred to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for quarantine. However, she tested positive for the novel coronavirus in a follow-up test on Sunday, because of which she is now continuing her stay at the Public Health Clinical Centre for isolation.
The second asymptomatic patient is a 25-year-old man who had previously received two mRNA jabs. He tested negative for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test in Portugal on Thursday last week, before flying to Germany the next day, when he flew to Singapore. He caught a connecting flight to Macau on Saturday.
The man underwent a COVID-19 nucleic acid test upon arrival at the local airport, but it came up with an uncertain result, after which he was transferred to the Public Health Clinical Centre for quarantine. However, he tested positive in a follow-up test on Sunday, because of which he is now continuing his stay there for isolation.
Meanwhile, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre has also announced seven other asymptomatic COVID-19 cases imported from a number of foreign countries and Hong Kong.
All seven patients are local residents.
The first and second patient are a 42-year-old man and his 11-year-old son who returned to Macau from Australia via Singapore on Wednesday last week, while the third patient is a 43-year-old man who returned to Macau from the United States via Singapore on the same day, according to a statement by the centre on Thursday last week. The first patient had previously received three mRNA jabs, while his son had received two mRNA doses, and the third patient had previously received three inactivated and mRNA jabs, the statement said. All of them tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon arrival at the local airport, because of which they were then transferred to the Public Health Clinical Centre for isolation.
The fourth patient is an 18-year-old woman who returned to Macau from Canada via Singapore on Wednesday last week. She had previously received three mRNA jabs. She underwent a COVID-19 nucleic acid test (NAT) upon arrival at the local airport, but it came up with an uncertain result, after which she was transferred to the Public Health Clinical Centre for quarantine. However, she tested positive in a follow-up test on Thursday last week, because of which she is now continuing her stay there for isolation, according to a statement by the centre on Friday last week.
The other three patients, whose cases were announced in a statement by the centre on Sunday, comprise a 67-year-old woman arriving from Hong Kong, a 30-year-old man arriving from Portugal via Germany and Singapore, and a 71-year-old woman arriving from the United States via Singapore. All of them had previously received three mRNA jabs.
The 67-year-old woman underwent a COVID-19 nucleic acid test upon arrival in Macau on Friday last week, but it came up with an uncertain result. However, she tested positive in a follow-up test on Saturday. The other two patients tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon arrival at the local airport on Saturday. All three patients are undergoing isolation at the Public Health Clinical Centre.
The nine cases have raised Macau’s asymptomatic COVID-19 tally to 113.
Macau’s total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases remains at 82.
4 ‘re-positive’ cases from returnees from HK, Australia, UK
Meanwhile, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre has announced four COVID-19 “re-positive” cases imported from Hong Kong, Australia and the UK.
A COVID-19 “re-positive” case means that a person has tested positive for the novel coronavirus again in a nucleic acid test (NAT) after having previously been infected with COVID-19 and recovered.
The four “re-positive” cases were announced in statements by the centre on Thursday, Sunday and yesterday.
The first “re-positive” patient is a 53-year-old local woman who returned to Macau from Hong Kong on Tuesday last week. She received a Sinopharm inactivated jab in February this year and a Sinovac inactivated jab in March. She was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease on March 30, because of which her case has been classified as a “re-positive” case.
The second and third “re-positive” patients are a 76-year-old local woman and a 29-year-old local woman who returned to Macau from Australia and the UK via Singapore on Saturday respectively. They were diagnosed with COVID-19 last month and December respectively, because of which their cases have been classified as “re-positive” cases. They had previously received two or three mRNA jabs.
The fourth “re-positive” patient is a 76-year-old local woman who returned to Macau from Hong Kong on Sunday. The woman, who has not been inoculated against the novel coronavirus, holds a certificate issued by Hong Kong’s health authorities confirming her unsuitability for COVID-19 vaccinations. She was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease in March.
COVID-19 “re-positive” cases are not classified as confirmed COVID-19 cases for Macau, neither are they classified as asymptomatic COVID-19 cases for Macau.
No facial recognition in Macau Health Code
Meanwhile, Health Bureau (SSM) official Leong Iek Hou confirmed during last week’s regular COVID-19 press conference that the Macau Health Code mobile app does not have any modules in its programming codes that can activate a facial recognition function.
Leong made the remarks when replying to media questions about news reports in Hong Kong according to which the Hong Kong government’s contact tracing app, LeaveHomeSafe, contains modules that can activate a facial recognition function.
Leong said that the Macau government had been aware of the reports in Hong Kong, because of which the Health Bureau had asked the developer of the Macau Health Code mobile app to check and review the app’s programming codes so as to confirm whether its programming designers had “carelessly” put facial-recognition modules into the app. Leong said that the company had meanwhile confirmed to the Health Bureau that the Macau Health Code mobile app “certainly” does not have any facial-recognition modules.
Leong also pointed out that when smartphone users check their visit records on their Macau Health Code mobile app, they have to carry it out in the same way they unlock their smartphones, such as entering a password or a pattern, scanning a fingerprint, or using facial recognition, depending on the method they have chosen to unlock their phone screen. Leong noted that this function aims to ensure that other people cannot easily check the smartphone owners’ visit records.
Contingency plan’s drill
Meanwhile, the Macau government carried out a drill on Saturday for its contingency plan for a massive COVID-19 outbreak. The drill, which was conducted at the Macau East Asian Games Dome in Cotai, simulated a scenario in which COVID-19 patients are transferred from the community to an indoor makeshift hospital, which would be set up at the East Asian Games Dome if the government activates the contingency plan.
The drill, which was overseen by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U, was jointly carried out by nine government entities and the Macau Red Cross.
In addition to about 300 health officials, other officials and health workers, around 30 residents, including children and senior citizens with reduced mobility, participated in Saturday’s drill.
The government said that the drill achieved its desired objectives.
A total of 25 vehicles, including ambulances, coaches, specially-modified buses and radio taxis, were used during Saturday’s drill.
A woman looks after her son on a “makeshift hospital” bed at the Macau East Asian Games Dome in Cotai during Saturday’s drill for the government’s contingency plan for a massive COVID-19 outbreak, which simulated a scenario in which COVID-19 patients are treated there. Photo: GCS
