Three local residents who returned to Macau from Hong Kong, Australia and the United Kingdom 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 a 66-year-old man who returned from Hong Kong on Sunday. He received his first and second Sinopharm inactivated jabs in June and July last year respectively, before receiving a Sinovac inactivated dose as his booster jab in February this year.
The man underwent a COVID-19 nucleic acid test (NAT) upon arrival in Macau, but it came up with an uncertain result, after which he was transferred to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for quarantine. However, he tested positive for the novel coronavirus in a follow-up test on Monday, because of which he is now continuing his stay there for isolation.
The second asymptomatic patient is a 31-year-old woman who returned from Australia on Monday via the Philippines and Singapore, having previously received two Pfizer mRNA jabs, while the third asymptomatic patient is a 21-year-old man who returned from the UK on Monday via Greece and Singapore, having previously received three mRNA jabs. Both tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon arrival at the local airport, because of which they were immediately transferred to the Public Health Clinical Centre for isolation.
The three cases have raised Macau’s asymptomatic COVID-19 tally to 122.
Macau’s total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases remains at 82.
3 ‘re-positive’ cases from returnees from HK & Singapore
Meanwhile, yesterday’s statement by the centre also announced three COVID-19 “re-positive” cases imported from Hong Kong and Singapore.
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 first “re-positive” patient is a 51-year-old local woman who returned from Hong Kong on Sunday. She had previously received two Sinopharm jabs. She underwent a COVID-19 nucleic acid test upon arrival in Macau, 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 for the novel coronavirus in a follow-up test on Monday, because of which she is now continuing her stay there for isolation.
The second “re-positive” patient is a 75-year-old local man who returned from Hong Kong on Friday. He had only received one Sinovac inactivated jab, which was administered in February, as he holds a certificate issued by Hong Kong’s Department of Health (DH) confirming that his condition temporarily renders him unsuitable to receive a second dose.
The man tested negative for COVID-19 upon arrival in Macau, because of which he was then transferred to a quarantine hotel for medical observation.
A follow-up test on Sunday came up with an uncertain result, because of which he was then transferred from the quarantine hotel to the Public Health Clinical Centre, where he tested positive for the novel coronavirus in a follow-up test on Monday.
The third “re-positive” patient is a 20-year-old local woman who returned from Singapore on Monday. She had previously received three mRNA jabs. She tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon arrival at the local airport, because of which she was immediately transferred to the Public Health Clinical Centre for isolation.
According to the statement, the three cases have been classified as “re-positive” cases as all of them had previously been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease.
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.
