Macau's current COVID-19 outbreak, which began on June 18, has risen by three cases to 1,819, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement this morning.
The three cases were discovered in locked-down ("Red Code Zone") buildings and medical observation quarantine hotels. No cases were detected in the community - the fifth successive day that no cases were found in the community.
According to the statement, the three cases were recorded between 00.00 and 11:59 p.m. yesterday.
Macau's tally of confirmed and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases accumulated since January 22, 2020 stands at 788 confirmed and 1,370 asymptomatic cases respectively, according to the website of the Health Bureau (SSM) as of 1:50 p.m. today. A total of 560 of the confirmed cases and 895 of the asymptomatic cases have been cured, the bureau said.
Six COVID-19 deaths have been reported in Macau since the start of the pandemic in January 2020. The six victims - five females and a male - were senior citizens suffering from a range of chronic diseases.
Macau continues with its free but mandatory nucleic acid test (NAT) rounds this week. Anyone in Macau – not just residents but also non-resident workers and visitors – must also self-test once a day. All people will have to undergo NATs this weekend, not just high-risk key groups.
The government has been distributing free rapid antigen test (RAT) kits (self-tests) among the population, the results of which are to be uploaded to an app of the Health Bureau (SSM) for verification. It has also been handing out free KN95 masks at testing stations. Before going for a nucleic acid test, everyone must first self-test at home to prevent the virus from spreading at testing stations.
Macau reported its first novel coronavirus case on January 22, 2020.
The Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) has been closely coordinating its anti-COVID-19 measures with the National Health Commission (NHC) in Beijing. In general, Macau follows the mainland's dynamic zero-COVID policy that is focused on preventing fatalities and serious cases.
Hundreds of health workers from the mainland are assisting the local authorities in battling the current outbreak driven by the highly infectious OMICRON BA.5.1 subvariant.
The government launched last Saturday a weeklong "consolidation period" in its ongoing fight against COVID-19. Officials said yesterday that the government planned to extend the consolidation period through next Monday, after which it would possibly launch a "stabilisation period".
Strict COVID-19 prevention and control measures remain in place during the consolidation period and people are supposed to leave their homes only for work or other "urgent and necessary" matters, according to an executive order by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng.
The wearing of KN95 facemasks remains mandatory during the consolidation period.
Meanwhile, the world's COVID-19 tally stands at 578 million, including 6.4 million fatalities, according to worldometers.info. The United States' number of COVID-19 deaths amounts to 1.05 million, more than in any other country. The US also has the world's highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, exceeding 92.7 million.
