Local woman diagnosed early today with COVID-19 after visiting eatery
A woman who works in Macau but lives in Zhuhai, and another woman who lives in Zhuhai but routinely visits her husband’s pharmacy near the Barrier Gate checkpoint, both tested positive for COVID-19 in Zhuhai on Wednesday, Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced yesterday.
The two cases were announced yesterday morning and afternoon respectively in statements from the centre. Both are mainlanders.
According to the first statement, Zhuhai’s health authorities informed their Macau counterparts of the first case yesterday morning.
The first case, according to the statement, is a 22-year-old woman who works in a music education centre in Fai Chi Kei. The woman tested negative for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test (NAT) on Monday and Tuesday respectively, before testing positive on Wednesday, the statement said.
The music education centre, according to the statement, is a branch of the Music Cracker Education Centre, which is located on the ground floor of Block 5 of Weng Ken Building, near the eastern waterfront of Patane North Bay.
According to its website, the Music Cracker Education Centre has four branches in the city.
According to the statement, the findings of an epidemiological investigation indicate that on Wednesday the woman walked to her workplace from the nearby Qingmao checkpoint, and walked back to the checkpoint en route to Zhuhai after work. The woman did not work on Tuesday but visited a number of venues in Macau on that day.
In addition, the statement said, the woman visited an express courier outlet in the underground shopping centre next to the Gongbei checkpoint in Zhuhai on Sunday.
According to the second statement, Zhuhai’s health authorities informed the Macau Health Bureau (SSM) of the second case shortly after midday yesterday.
The second case, according to the statement, is a 36-year-old woman who “frequently” visits a pharmacy owned by her husband, which is located on Rua Um do Bairro Vá Tai, near the Barrier Gate checkpoint.
The woman also tested negative for the novel coronavirus in a nucleic acid test on Monday and Tuesday respectively, the statement said.
The findings of an epidemiological investigation indicate that the woman walked from the Barrier Gate checkpoint to the pharmacy, and walked back to the checkpoint en route to Zhuhai, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the statement said.
In addition, the statement said, she visited a Financial Services Bureau (DSF) service counter at the Government Service Centre in Areia Preta between 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesday. She also visited the Public Administration Building on Rua do Campo at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, the statement said.
Deep cleaning and disinfection were carried out in the Government Service Centre in Areia Preta yesterday afternoon, the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) said, adding that the centre closed during the disinfection.
The government yesterday did not announce whether the Public Administration Building had been disinfected.
In addition to the two cases that were diagnosed in Zhuhai on Wednesday and announced yesterday, four COVID-19 positive cases affecting the community have been reported in Macau since Monday. Two of the four COVID-19 carriers detected in Macau had also visited the express courier outlet in the Gongbei underground shopping centre.
Some of the COVID-19 carriers detected in Macau late last month had also visited an express courier outlet in the Gongbei underground shopping centre.
Meanwhile, the Macau Health Bureau has required all those entering Macau who have visited the Gongbei underground shopping centre within the past five days to undergo hotel quarantine for up to five days. The bureau also reminded yesterday that those entering Macau must “truly” report their travel history, and those failing to comply face a prison term of up to six months or a fine.
Patron of Four Seasons Vista 38 tests positive, residential building locked down
Meanwhile, Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in statement at 1 a.m. today that a 25-year-old local woman who had visited the Vista 38 restaurant on the 38th floor of the Grand Suites at Four Seasons, an apartment hotel in Cotai, has tested positive for COVID-19.
A 21-year-old local woman who works as an intern at the Vista 38 restaurant had tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. According to a government announcement on Monday, the 21-year-old woman lives with her parents who had tested positive for COVID-19 again, i.e., they were classified as re-positive cases, after completing their hotel quarantine after returning from Portugal via Germany. The 21-year-old woman’s case has been classified as connected to imported cases.
According to the statement at 1 a.m. today, the 25-year-old woman tested negative for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test on Monday and Wednesday respectively. However, the statement said, the woman had tested positive for COVID-19 in a rapid antigen test (RAT) at home earlier last night and uploaded her positive RAT result onto the Health Bureau’s platform.
The Health Bureau then transferred the woman to the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre for a follow-up nucleic acid test, where she came up with a positive COVID-19 result. She has meanwhile been transferred to the bureau’s Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for isolation treatment.
According to the statement, the 25-year-old woman went to the Vista 38 restaurant for a meal on Saturday and Sunday. However, the statement said, the 25-year-old woman had not been transferred to quarantine following Monday’s COVID-19 detection of the 21-year-old woman because she was not on a name list provided by the restaurant indicating diners who had a meal there.
The statement underlined that the 25-year-old woman, who is unemployed, stayed at home on Wednesday and yesterday, except when she went to an NAT sampling station for a test on Wednesday night.
According to the statement, the building where the 25-year-old woman lives, Block 3 of the Residência Macau residential estate, has been listed as a Red Code Zone. According to local media reports, health officials and police officers were locking down the building in the early hours of today.
The luxury residential estate is located on the peninsula’s northeastern coast.
According to the statement, the 25-year-old woman’s case has also been classified as connected to imported cases.
This photo taken in the early hours of today shows the locked-down Block 3 of the Residência Macau residential estate in Areia Preta.
– Photo courtesy of Macao Daily News
