The latest tally of Macau’s current COVID-19 outbreak has reached 941, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced yesterday.
The government yesterday strongly urged people to always wear a KN95 facemask when going out or at workplaces considering that the Omicron subvariant BA.5.1 that is besetting Macau is very contagious.
According to a statement by the centre yesterday morning, 89 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases were reported between 00:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Monday, raising the outbreak tally from 852 as of Sunday night to 941 as of Monday 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 382 of the 941 cases have been classified as confirmed COVID-19 cases as they had come down with symptoms, while the other 559 cases have been classified as asymptomatic cases as they had not developed any symptoms.
The current outbreak’s latest tally of 941 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.
The centenarian was Macau’s oldest COVID-19 patient.
3-month-old baby youngest patient
Leong said yesterday that now the youngest patient is a three-month-old baby. Before yesterday, the youngest patient was an eight-month-old.
Leong also said that 66 of the 89 new local cases reported on Monday were detected in the community, while the other 23 were detected among COVID-19 carriers subject to control measures such as lockdowns and quarantine.
Why KN95 mask?
A Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre statement yesterday afternoon said that in response to the occurrence of COVID-19 community transmissions in Macau, the local government has handed KN95 facemasks to residents and everyone else in Macau, adding that wearing a KN95 facemask can effectively prevent COVID-19 infection.
All those tested under the current outbreak’s third round of mandatory citywide nucleic acid tests (NATs), which was carried out from Monday to Tuesday last week, were handed 10 KN95 facemasks.
Everyone tested during the fifth round of mass testing, which will run from 9 a.m. today to 6 p.m. tomorrow, will be again handed 10 KN95 facemasks.
Yesterday afternoon’s statement by the centre strongly urged residents and others to take personal protection measures properly. Except when eating or drinking, the statement said, people should always wear a KN95 facemask when going out or in their workplaces.
In addition, the statement said, people should refrain from eating with others such as their colleagues at workplaces. In case people need to eat with their colleagues at the same time in the same space, according to the statement, partitions should be set up there in order to prevent COVID-19 infection.
During yesterday evening’s press conference, Leong noted that the local government has handed KN95 facemasks to people in Macau after considering that the Omicron subvariant BA.5.1 that is spreading in Macau is very contagious.
Leong said that the Health Bureau has concluded in the findings of its epidemiological investigations that many of the current outbreak’s COVID-19 close contacts have eventually been diagnosed with infection because they had worked with their colleagues without wearing a facemask.
Leong underlined that based on Macau’s current COVID-19 situation, wearing a facemask, particularly a KN95 facemask, can effectively reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection.
A statement by the centre last night reaffirmed that a KN95 facemask can provide an 83 percent rate of protection against COVID-19 infection, higher than the 66 percent provided by a surgical mask.
Grand Lisboa’s lockdown
Meanwhile, Leong said during the press conference that two new clusters were detected yesterday, raising the latest number of identified clusters to 18.
The current outbreak’s number of identified clusters increased to 16 from 12 on Sunday.
At the time of yesterday evening’s press conference, Leong said there are two new clusters: the 17th cluster consisting of 17 people from the Concórdia Square residential estate near the Barrier Gate checkpoint and a social housing estate in Fai Chi Kei, with the 18th cluster consisting of 13 people, involving Hotel Grand Lisboa in the city centre.
Leong merely said that the 13 COVID-19 carriers from Hotel Grand Lisboa work in various occupations.
The government locked down Grand Lisboa yesterday evening, and confirmed in a statement last night that the casino-hotel has been newly classified as a red code zone, i.e., it has been locked down. According to the statement, the hotel’s lockdown is slated to be lifted next Monday.
637,349 tested, 71 batches of pooled samples positive as of last night
Meanwhile, according to a Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre statement last night, a total of 637,349 people were tested under the government’s fourth mandatory citywide NAT drive, which ended at 6 p.m. yesterday, 575,424 of whom had come up with a negative result, while 71 batches of pooled samples (10 samples per pooled sample) had tested positive for COVID-19 as of last night.
For the fourth round of mass nucleic acid tests, the government has changed the number of swabs mixed in a batch of pooled samples back to 10 from 6.
The government has launched three rounds of citywide nucleic acid tests for this week, i.e., the current outbreak’s fourth, fifth and sixth rounds. The fifth round will be carried out from today to tomorrow, 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.
Meanwhile, the government also announced yesterday that all security, cleaning and building management staff will be required to undergo a COVID-19 nucleic acid test every day from today to Saturday, meaning four tests in total.
Those working in the three occupations underwent a nucleic acid test on Sunday. The Health Bureau said on Monday that 38 batches of pooled samples had tested positive for COVID-19 in Sunday’s NAT programme for them.
Leong reaffirmed during yesterday’s press conference that the Health Bureau has concluded in the findings of its epidemiological investigations that those working in the three occupations have had a relatively higher probability of being infected with COVID-19, because of which the government decided to roll out a NAT programme for them on Sunday.
Leong said that the government has decided to roll out a special measure that requires those working in the three occupations to undergo a nucleic acid test every day from today to Saturday after considering that Sunday’s NAT programme for them detected many COVID-19 cases.
Various nationalities diagnosed with COVID-19
Meanwhile, Leong also revealed that the current outbreak’s latest tally of 941 includes 766 Macau residents or mainlanders, 57 Philippine nationals, 52 Nepalese, 31 Burmese, 17 Vietnamese, and 11 Indonesians.
The other seven are from other countries such as India, Portugal and the United Kingdom, Leong said.
Meanwhile, Health Bureau senior official Lei Wai Seng said during the press conference that a 71-year-old chronically ill patient was in a critical condition, adding that the bureau did not rule out the possibility of his or her condition deteriorating. However, Lei also said that the condition of a 60-year-old patient whose serious condition was announced last week has now significantly improved.
Lei also said that the three-month-old COVID-19 patient was in a good and stable condition yesterday afternoon.
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
Health workers and police officers prepare to lock down Grand Lisboa Hotel yesterday evening. Photo: Ginnie Liang
