The Macau government has launched a mandatory citywide nucleic acid testing (NAT) drive, which starts at 7 a.m. today, after a 58-year-old local man who works in Macau and lives in Zhuhai tested positive for COVID-19 in Zhuhai yesterday morning and the two cities’ health authorities have been unable to identify the source of his infection.
The mass NAT campaign for everyone in Macau will end at 11 a.m. tomorrow.
The government also announced yesterday that for the time being universities, schools and kindergartens will not suspend classes. The operations of day nurseries will not be suspended either.
The government also underlined yesterday that it will need to complete the citywide NAT drive in a relatively short period of time because Typhoon “Nalgae” is expected to affect Macau later this week.
Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long announced the government’s decision to carry out a citywide NAT campaign during yesterday evening’s press conference by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre.
Residents queue to be tested for COVID-19 outside a nucleic acid testing (NAT) station in Largo do Pagode do Bazar’s sitting-out area (where the Hong Kung Temple is located) in the Inner Harbour area last night. – Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
The citywide NAT drive covers everyone in Macau, i.e., local residents, non-resident workers (NRWs) and anyone else who is currently in Macau.
The 58-year-old man’s case was first announced in a statement by the centre yesterday afternoon, after which Lo announced more details of the case and the government’s latest special measures in response to the case during yesterday evening’s press conference.
The man works in a fresh seafood shop near Praça de Ponte e Horta in the Inner Harbour area. He is normally tasked with delivering seafood to restaurants.
According to Lo, Zhuhai’s health authorities told the Macau Health Bureau yesterday morning that the 58-year-old man underwent a COVID-19 nucleic acid test in Zhuhai on Sunday night, and his test came up with a positive result yesterday morning.
Lo said that as of yesterday evening the two cities’ health authorities had still been unable to identify whether the man’s case was connected to recent COVID-19 positive cases detected in Zhuhai or Macau, because of which, he said, the Macau Health Bureau could not rule out the possibility of hidden transmission chains occurring in the community. Consequently, he said, the Health Bureau has concluded that Macau is now facing a higher risk of the occurrence of COVID-19 community transmissions.
Lo said that with the aim of assessing the level of the COVID-19 risk in the community and preventing the possible spread of the novel coronavirus, the Macau government has decided to carry out a citywide NAT drive for everyone.
Lo underlined that the mass NAT campaign does not mean that Macau’s ongoing COVID-19 situation is serious, and the testing drive aims to enable the government to rule out potential COVID-19 in the community. The health chief urged residents “not to worry too much” about the situation.
Lo said that the government aims for the citywide NAT drive not to affect civil society’s normal operations and residents’ normal daily lives, because of which it has decided not to suspend classes of universities, schools and kindergartens as well as operations of day nurseries.
According to Lo, those who already underwent a COVID-19 nucleic acid test in Macau or Zhuhai yesterday will not need to participate in the citywide NAT drive, which starts at 7 a.m. today.
Within minutes of Lo’s announcement about the mass NAT campaign at the beginning of yesterday’s one-hour press conference, which started at 5 p.m., long queues started to form outside the city’s NAT sampling stations.
Lo also reaffirmed that residents and others must self-test for COVID-19 with a rapid antigen test (RAT) kit at home and upload their negative RAT result onto the Health Bureau’s platform before going to a NAT station for their mass nucleic acid tests.
KN95 facemasks, 5 dozen stations
Lo also urged all those participating in the citywide NAT drive to wear a KN95 facemask when going to the testing stations.
Initially, Lo said during yesterday evening’s press conference, the government aimed to complete the citywide NAT drive before 11:59 p.m. today because a typhoon was expected to start affecting Macau tomorrow. However, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement last night that the government had decided to carry out the mass NAT campaign until 11 a.m. tomorrow.
Around five dozen testing stations will operate across the city during the citywide NAT drive, an increase from the about four dozen testing stations hitherto.
According to last night’s statement, the citywide NAT stations will run from 7 a.m. today to 1 a.m. tomorrow, and from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. tomorrow. This means that the testing campaign will last 22 hours.
Lo’s announcement meant that the mass NAT campaign was initially slated to last only 17 hours.
Each of previous rounds of citywide NAT drives carried out during Macau’s previous COVID-19 outbreak, which began on June 18 and started to subside in late July, lasted 28 hours.
A health worker takes an oropharyngeal swab from a woman for a COVID-19 test at a nucleic acid testing (NAT) station at the Trust Leisure Garden residential estate in Fai Chi Kei last night. – Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
The government yesterday also urged employers to allow their employees to go to the citywide NAT stations for sampling during their working hours.
Lo also said that the 58-year-old man tested negative for COVID-19 on Friday last week. He has received three COVID-19 jabs.
Lo also said that the man had been working every day several days before he was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Macau’s current COVID-19 situation began on Tuesday last week when a 66-year-old local woman tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Zhuhai. Her two family members, her son and younger sister, as well as a 57-year-old local man living in the same building in Fai Chi Kei, were also diagnosed with COVID-19 later last week.
In addition, a 43-year-old local woman, who works as a croupier at the MGM COTAI casino-hotel resort, as well as her two sons, tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. In addition, a 34-year-old local woman living in the same building in Iao Hon district was also diagnosed with COVID-19 later the same day.
According to the Health Bureau’s announcement on Sunday, the 66-year-old woman and the 43-year-old woman visited an express courier outlet in the underground shopping centre next to the Gongbei checkpoint in Zhuhai on Tuesday last week at the same time.
2 more cases related to Fai Chi Kei’s caseMeanwhile, the Macau government announced in a statement yesterday afternoon that the wife and a son of the 57-year-old man had also been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease. His 26-year-old son tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday night, while his 53-year-old wife tested positive yesterday morning. Despite having received two COVID-19 jabs, according to the statement, both had come down with COVID-19 symptoms such as a cough and sore throat.
Consequently, as of last night 11 cases had been reported amid Macau’s current COVID-19 situation that began on Tuesday last week.
Health Bureau official Leong Iek Hou reported during yesterday’s press conference details of the 58-year-old man’s visit history in Macau. According to Leong, the man travelled from Zhuhai to Macau every day from Friday to Sunday to go to work. He took public bus route No. MT4 from the Qingmao checkpoint to Praça de Ponte e Horta en route to the seafood shop in the morning. He took public bus route No. 1 back to Fai Chi Kei at night and walked to the Qingmao checkpoint en route to Zhuhai to return home.
During his break time from work, Leong said, the man normally took a rest in Praça de Ponte e Horta’s sitting-out area where he routinely removed his facemask to smoke.Lo said that the man failed to wear a facemask properly when out and about, which he said had raised the level of the COVID-19 risk in the community.
