Mainland tourist enters Macau last Monday, tests positive for COVID-19 on Saturday
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U said yesterday that the Macau government has concluded that for the time being there was no need to launch a mandatory citywide nucleic acid testing (NAT) drive because there was no sign of the occurrence of COVID-19 community transmissions resulting from a mainland tourist’s case that was detected in Macau on Saturday.
Ao Ieong made the remarks while speaking to reporters at the Macau Grand Prix Building near the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal yesterday evening after the final race of the four-day 69th Macau Grand Prix (MGP), the Formula 4 race, had been completed.
The case triggered the local government’s ongoing five-day NAT campaign for three high-risk key areas, which started on Saturday afternoon. All those who live or work in the three key areas are required to undergo four nucleic acid tests in five days.
The case, a 60-year-old female tourist from the mainland, was announced in a statement by the Macau Health Bureau (SSM) on Saturday morning. The statement said that a batch of mixed samples collected from the NAT sampling station at the Sands Macao casino-hotel in Nape tested positive for COVID-19 in the early hours of Saturday. Consequently, the Health Bureau contacted the respective testees to undergo a follow-up individual-sample nucleic acid test, after which the bureau confirmed that it was the 60-year-old tourist who tested positive for COVID-19.
Extensive travel history, symptoms during stay
According to the statement, the 60-year-old woman flew from Suzhou to Zhuhai with her husband and younger sister on Monday last week. They underwent a nucleic acid test upon arrival at Zhuhai airport, and all of them came up with a negative result, after which they entered Macau from Zhuhai via the Barrier Gate checkpoint that night. They checked into Harbourview Hotel at Macau Fisherman’s Wharf, which is located opposite the Sands Macao casino-hotel.
During their stay in Macau, the three tourists visited a raft of restaurants and tourist attractions on the peninsula as well as several casino-hotel resorts in Cotai before the 60-year-old woman was diagnosed with COVID-19.
The statement said that the 60-year-old woman came down with a cough on Tuesday morning last week, before developing a fever on Wednesday night when she returned to the hotel guestroom. However, according to the statement, she did not seek treatment for her fever, and only asked her husband to her some buy medicine from a pharmacy.
While the 60-year-old woman stayed in the hotel guestroom all day Thursday, she went sightseeing with her two family members around the city on Friday. They underwent a nucleic acid test at the Sands Macao NAT sampling station that night, and one of them, the 60-year-old woman, came up with a positive result.
The 60-year-old woman was transferred to the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for isolation treatment after she had been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the early hours of Saturday. Her two family members have meanwhile been transferred to quarantine for medical observation. Harbourview Hotel was locked down on Saturday because of which hotel guests and staff have been required to remain in the hotel for quarantine for a number of days and undergo nucleic acid tests. The bureau did not announce how long the quarantine will last.
Saturday’s statement also said that the Health Bureau has classified the 60-year-old woman’s case as imported because she started to come down with COVID-19 symptoms the day after entering Macau.
NAT campaign for 3 areas
In line with the three-member family’s visit history during their stay in Macau, the local government classified three high-risk key areas subject to four mandatory nucleic acid tests carried out in five days. The five-day NAT campaign started at 4 p.m. on Saturday. All those who live or work in the key areas are required to undergo four tests in five days between Saturday last week and Wednesday.
According to a Health Bureau statement on Saturday afternoon, the first key area covers Macau Fisherman’s Wharf and Sands Macao. The second key area covers an area in the vicinity of the Ruins of St Paul’s and Mount Fortress, while the third key area covers an area around São Lourenço Church, A-Ma Temple, and Ha Van (Praia do Manduco) district.
Those aged below three are exempted from the ongoing five-day NAT campaign.
Details about the three key areas in English can be checked at: https://www.gov.mo/en/news/287772/.
As of last night, no COVID-19 positive results had been reported from the ongoing five-day NAT campaign.
Ruling out potential risk
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Ao Ieong insisted that for the time being there was no sign of the occurrence of COVID-19 spreading in the city following the COVID-19 detection of the 60-year-old tourist, because of which the local government has concluded that for the time being there’s no need to carry out mass nucleic acid tests. She said that the case has only resulted in a relatively low COVID-19 community transmission risk.
Nevertheless, Ao Ieong said that as the 60-year-old tourist had visited a raft of venues in the city, the local government has launched an NAT campaign for the three key areas with the aim of confirming whether the novel coronavirus is spreading in the community.
Ao Ieong urged those affected by the five-day NAT campaign to comply with the government’s ongoing work against COVID-19 with the aim of helping the government rule out the potential COVID-19 community risk.
The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) organised a music festival in front of the Ruins of St Paul’s on Saturday evening where a large number of residents and visitors gathered. Some members of civil society criticised the government for holding an event involving massive crowd gatherings following the COVID-19 detection of a tourist with an extensive travel history, while simultaneously requiring those in key areas to undergo four nucleic acid tests in five days.
When asked by reporters about the matter, Ao Ieong said that after an assessment for potential COVID-19 risks, the government had concluded that the music festival could be held as scheduled. She said that according to the central government’s latest guidelines on COVID-19 prevention, normal economic and social activities in a certain place can continue to be carried out if there is no sign of the occurrence of COVID-19 community transmissions there.
Ao Ieong also said that those in key areas subject to mandatory regular nucleic acid tests are not barred from travelling around the city.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U talks to reporters at the Macau Grand Prix Building yesterday. – Photo: Rui Pastorin
