A security guard working at England Marina Club Hotel in Cotai, which is used as an isolation facility to accommodate asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers, tested positive for the novel coronavirus last week, the government has announced.
The case, which was detected on Thursday, was announced by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre in a statement on Friday.
The security guard, a 47-year-old male non-resident worker (NRW) subject to “closed-loop management”, was tasked with patrolling a floor of the hotel, and delivering meals and other items to room guests, the statement said.
Several days after Macau’s latest outbreak began on June 18, the England Marina Club Hotel came into operation as an isolation facility to receive asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers.
The latest COVID-19 outbreak, Macau’s worst since the start of the pandemic, is also known in Chinese as “618 outbreak”, which started to subside around a month ago. “618” refers to the fact that the outbreak started on June 18.
Even after the 618 outbreak was over, the government decided to continue the operation of the England Marina Club Hotel as an isolation hotel to receive asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers, namely those who are diagnosed with COVID-19 after arriving in Macau from COVID-19-affected countries and regions, i.e., imported cases.
The England Marina Club Hotel is a newly-completed hotel located next to the Pousada Marina Infante hotel in Cotai, which is one of the city’s quarantine hotels accommodating arrivals from COVID-19-affected countries and regions for medical observation.
England Marina Club Hotel’s good work in COVID-19 prevention: Ao Ieong
Speaking to reporters after attending a plenary session of the legislature on Friday, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U said that the government had still not found out how the security guard at the England Marina Club Hotel caught the novel coronavirus. However, Ao Ieong said that the security guard, who was primarily tasked with delivering meals to room guests and collecting rubbish, had possibly been infected with COVID-19 when he was collecting rubbish or taking off his protective gear.
But Ao Ieong was quick to add that the government did not see any “obvious mistakes” made by the England Marina Club Hotel in carrying out COVID-19 prevention and control measures.
On the contrary, Ao Ieong praised the England Marina Club Hotel for its “good” implementation of COVID-19 prevention and control measures, such as separate break rooms for each staff member, and arranging for staff members to eat alone.
But Ao Ieong underlined that staff members of isolation hotels run a higher risk of getting infected with COVID-19 as they provide services for novel coronavirus carriers.
The policy secretary, whose portfolio includes the city’s health service, also noted that staff members of isolation hotels are not health workers, because of which they are inevitably less professional in carrying out COVID-19 prevention and control measures than health workers. She pledged that the government will continue to strengthen its training for those working at isolation hotels and those working at quarantine hotels in COVID-19 prevention and control.
Ao Ieong acknowledged that in principle the best measure for the government to tackle COVID-19 positive cases is to transfer all COVID-19 carriers to hospital negative-pressure isolation wards. However, she said, more residents have been returning to Macau from overseas in recent weeks. Around 300 residents have recently returned to Macau from overseas via Singapore every week, she said, adding that Macau saw about 10 imported cases in one single day recently.
The Macau Health Bureau (SSM) currently only has 266 isolation beds, comprising 120 beds in the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane and 146 beds in the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre.
Ao Ieong noted on Friday that the isolation wards at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre are currently only used to receive COVID-19 patients in a serious or critical condition, COVID-19 carriers with a higher risk of having their condition deteriorate, or those who need intensive medical treatment. She also pointed out that the Public Health Clinical Centre only has a limited number of negative-pressure isolation wards.
Ao Ieong went on to say that if the government had chosen to transfer all COVID-19 carriers to the Public Health Clinical Centre, the isolation wards there would have been filled up soon, in which case the government could no longer allow even local residents to return to Macau from COVID-19-affected countries and regions.
Consequently, Ao Ieong said, the government had decided to continue the operation of the England Marina Club Hotel as an isolation facility to receive asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers, as the hotel has good COVID-19 prevention facilities and well-trained personnel to ensure COVID-19 prevention.
