Addressing yesterday’s weekly press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus situation, Leong Iek Hou, who heads the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Division of the Health Bureau (SSM), said that during Macau’s latest COVID-19 outbreak that began on June 18, the Macau government spent around 600 million patacas on carrying out 14 rounds of mandatory citywide nucleic acid tests (NATs) and handing out COVID-19 rapid antigen test (RAT) kits and KN95 facemasks to every testee during the outbreak’s mass NAT drive.
The recent COVID-19 outbreak, Macau’s worst since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, is known in Chinese as “618” outbreak, which started to subside around seven weeks ago. “618” refers to the fact that the outbreak started on June 18.
However, the about-600-million-pataca spending announced by Leong yesterday did not include the government’s various other measures implemented for its ongoing battle against the 618 outbreak, such as medical treatment for COVID-19 patients or carriers, lockdowns of buildings affected by COVID-19 cases, mandatory NAT programmes for various high-risk key groups of people and those for high-risk key areas, the operations of isolation hotels used to accommodate COVID-19 carriers, and the operations of quarantine hotels used to accommodate COVID-19 close contacts.
Leong revealed that the around-600-million-pataca spending during yesterday’s press conference when replying to a question from a reporter who asked about the local government’s total expenditure in response to the 618 outbreak.
Leong noted that the government carried out a total of 14 rounds of mandatory citywide nucleic acid tests during the 618 outbreak, which lasted around six weeks. During the outbreak’s various rounds of mass tests, Leong said, every testee was handed a total of 50 RAT kits and 60 KN95 facemasks free of charge.
Leong said that the RAT kits handed out cost around five patacas each on average, while the KN95 facemasks handed out each cost 1.00 to 1.50 patacas on average.
Leong said that preliminary calculations indicate that the 618 outbreak’s 14 rounds of nucleic acid tests, and the RAT kits and KN95 facemasks handed out had cost the government around 600 million patacas.
People in Macau were required to undergo daily COVID-19 self-tests with RAT kits during most of the 618 outbreak’s period, while the government’s mandatory wearing of KN95 facemasks when out and about was in force for around 20 days during the outbreak, i.e., a period from around the middle of July to around the end of that month.
Govt requires athletes of inter-school contests to be jabbed
Meanwhile, Luís Gomes, who heads the Non-Tertiary Education Department of the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ), announced during yesterday’s press conference that for the current new school year of 2022/23, all athletes taking part in inter-school sports competitions are required to have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at least 14 days prior, as otherwise they are required to display an NAT certificate confirming a negative COVID-19 result valid for 48 hours every time before they compete.
However, according to Gomes, all athletes, regardless of whether they have been fully vaccinated, must show an NAT certificate confirming a negative COVID-19 result valid for 48 hours before participating in their first competition. The first test will be paid by the government, Gomes said.
According to Gomes, fully-vaccinated athletes will still be required to show a negative COVID-19 self-test (RAT) result every time they compete, and the self-test must be carried out on the day they compete. Those who have not been fully vaccinated will be required to show an NAT certificate confirming a negative COVID-19 result valid for 48 hours every time they compete, and the respective athletes are required to pay for all tests every time themselves, Gomes said.
Gomes also said that RAT kits used by fully-vaccinated athletes will be provided to their schools free of charge by his bureau.
Gomes also said that around 85 percent of the students who competed in inter-school sports events in the previous school year of 2021/22 were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
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 COVID-19 situation. – Photo: GCS
