The latest tally of Macau’s current COVID-19 outbreak has reached 852, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced yesterday.
According to a statement by the centre yesterday morning, 68 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases were reported between 00:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, raising the outbreak tally from 784 as of Saturday night to 852 as of Sunday night.
Leong Iek Hou, who heads the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Division of the Health Bureau (SSM), announced case details of the outbreak’s latest tally during yesterday evening’s daily press conference about the viral menace.
Leong said that 350 of the 852 cases have been classified as confirmed COVID-19 cases as they had come down with symptoms, while the other 502 cases have been classified as asymptomatic cases as they had not developed any symptoms.
The current outbreak’s latest tally of 852 includes Macau’s first two COVID-19 deaths, which were reported on Sunday. Both were chronically ill female senior citizens, aged 100 and 94 respectively, who lived in the same nursing home run by the Macanese welfare organisation Mothers’ Work (known as Obra das Mães in Portuguese) in Ha Van district, the Cantonese name for the Praia do Manduco neighbourhood in the Inner Harbour area near Barra.
Leong also said that 47 of the 68 new local cases reported on Sunday were detected in the community, while the other 21 were detected among COVID-19 carriers subject to control measures such as lockdowns and quarantine.
When asked by reporters during yesterday evening’s press conference, Leong said that 55 preliminary positive cases had been reported yesterday shortly before the press conference.
10 batches of pooled samples positive as of last night
Meanwhile, according to a Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre statement last night, as of 9 p.m. yesterday, 330,042 people had had their swabs taken for COVID-19 tests under the ongoing mandatory citywide nucleic acid testing (NAT) drive, 134,726 of whom had come up with a negative result. However, as of 9 p.m. yesterday 10 batches of pooled samples (six samples per pooled sample) had tested positive.
The ongoing round of mass nucleic acid tests is the current COVID-19 outbreak’s fourth one, which started at 9 a.m. yesterday and will end at 6 p.m. today.
The government has launched three rounds of citywide nucleic acid tests for this week, namely the current outbreak’s fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, the fifth round will be carried out from tomorrow to Thursday, while the sixth round will run from Friday to Saturday. Each of the three rounds lasts 33 hours.
Those aged three or below are exempted from the three rounds of mass testing.
Residents and others must test themselves for COVID-19 with a rapid antigen test (RAT) kit at home before going to the citywide NAT stations for their tests. Those entering the mass NAT stations must display a negative result of a rapid antigen test on their Macau Health Code, otherwise they will be prohibited from entering the testing stations. Those who are unable to report their negative RAT result on the health code system can present a photo showing their negative result upon entering the testing stations.
The government has also urged people to wear a KN95 facemask when going to the mass NAT stations for their tests.
145 seniors infected with COVID-19
Meanwhile, Leong also revealed during yesterday’s press conference that the current outbreak’s latest tally includes 145 senior citizens aged 60 or over, comprising 92 seniors aged between 60 and 69, 39 seniors aged between 70 and 79, 10 seniors aged between 80 and 89, and four seniors aged between 90 and 100 – including the two COVID-19 fatalities reported on Sunday.
Leong said that the local government does not rule out the possibility of Macau reporting more COVID-19 fatalities because, she said, experiences worldwide indicate that senior citizens with chronic diseases will run a significantly higher risk of suffering a serious condition or dying from the novel coronavirus disease compared to people in general.
Leong underlined that although full COVID-19 vaccinations cannot ensure that seniors with chronic diseases are always protected from dying, they will run a significantly lower risk of dying compared to unvaccinated ones.
21 Health Bureau COVID-19 cases
Meanwhile, Leong also revealed that as of yesterday afternoon a total of 21 health workers and outsourced staff working for the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre and other Health Bureau facilities had been infected with COVID-19 during the current outbreak, which was detected on June 18. Leong reaffirmed that her bureau has provisionally concluded that they were not infected while working.
According to Leong, the 21 COVID-19 carriers comprise seven health workers and 14 outsourced workers. The seven health workers comprise a doctor and six nurses, while the 14 outsourced workers comprise a security guard, a supervisor of a cleaning company, and 12 cleaners, Leong said.
38 batches of pool samples positive in testing programme for security, cleaning and management staff
Meanwhile, Leong also said that as of yesterday afternoon 38 batches of pooled samples had tested positive for COVID-19 in a NAT programme for three key groups of people that was carried out on Sunday, namely security, cleaning and building management staff. Leong said that the results show that the programme was needed to detect COVID-19 carriers working in the three occupations as the government has concluded that those working in the three occupations have had a relatively higher probability of having been infected with COVID-19, based on the statistics and data of the current outbreak’s latest tally.
4th jab under consideration
Meanwhile, Leong also said that after assessing experiences worldwide, the local government will consider rolling out the administration of a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccines for those particularly susceptible to the novel coronavirus, such as senior citizens. Leong pointed out some residents had received their third dose as a booster jab some time ago.
Leong said that for the time being the government will not roll out the fourth dose because it needs to work intensively in this ongoing battle against the highly infectious virus.
Leong Iek Hou, who heads the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Division, addresses yesterday’s press conference about the city’s current COVID-19 outbreak. Photo: Tony Wong
