In response to the government’s ‘relatively static’ management measure ordering the temporary closure of most businesses and imposing restrictions on people’s movements, a COVID-19 research team of the University of Macau (UM) has expressed its support for the measure, according to a statement from the public university on Friday.
The measure was imposed by the government on July 11, initially for a week, in an attempt to stem the current novel coronavirus outbreak. The government announced on Saturday the measure’s extension for another five days through Friday this week.
The same research team previously expressed opposition to a citywide lockdown based on the possible negative effects on social cohesion and accessibility of necessary services, according to another UM statement on July 8.
The statement said that although the new variant – Omicron BA.5 – is more transmissible than other subvariants, the long-standing anti-epidemic principle of early detection, diagnosis and isolation has helped interrupt the chain of transmission, along with prevention and control measures at community and individual levels.
According to the statement, based on preliminary data, the “relatively static” management model, in combination with previous measures, has gradually reduced the number of infections in the community, but the research team stressed that everyone needs to continue to be vigilant to contain the virus.
In addition, the team has also made the following recommendations: vaccination against COVID-19 would remain essential for the elderly and those with chronic diseases in particular, in order to achieve stronger immunity in individuals; residents in areas with a high incidence of positive cases should strictly follow epidemic prevention measures and stay at home if possible.
Moreover, the team stressed the importance of information technology for epidemic prevention, such as a geolocation-based epidemic warning notification system, since it can inform the affected residents proactively thanks to its instantaneous speed, the statement said, adding that the University of Macau has established the Macau COVID-19 HotSpot Map which shows the latest news of the epidemic: degroup.cis.um.edu.mo/covid-19/.
