A 58-year-old woman who entered Macau from the mainland as a tourist on Monday last week with her sister, a 60-year-old whose COVID-19 infection was detected in Macau on Saturday, also tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday during quarantine, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement.
The 60-year-old woman’s case was detected by the Macau Health Bureau (SSM) in the early hours of Saturday. She flew from Suzhou to Zhuhai with her husband and younger sister on Monday last week en route to Macau. 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 here.
After the COVID-19 detection of the 60-year-old woman in the early hours of Saturday, her husband and her 58-year-old sister was then classified as close contacts and transferred to quarantine for medical observation.
Yesterday evening’s statement by the centre said that the 58-year-old woman still tested negative for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test (NAT) on Saturday and Sunday, before testing positive yesterday.
Yesterday’s statement underlined that the cycle threshold (CT) value of the 58-year-old woman’s nucleic acid test indicated that her infection was detected “in the early stage”, i.e., she has been infected with the novel coronavirus for just a short period of time.
According to the statement, the 58-year-old woman, who had not come down with any COVID-19 symptoms as of yesterday evening, has meanwhile been transferred to the Health Bureau’s Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for isolation treatment.
The statement underlined that the 58-year-old woman’s case has only resulted in a relatively low COVID-19 community transmission risk.
New NAT rules for arrivals from mainland
Meanwhile, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in another statement yesterday that all those entering Macau from the mainland are now required to undergo a COVID-19 nucleic acid test on the second day after arriving in Macau.
The statement said that those failing to undergo the required nucleic acid test will have their Macau Health Code turn yellow the next day, i.e., the third day after arriving in Macau. If they still do not undergo the required test afterwards, their health code will even turn red the day after, i.e., the fourth day after arriving in Macau, the statement said.
The statement said that the Macau government has decided to roll out the new measure after considering the ongoing “serious” COVID-19 situation in the mainland including Zhuhai.
The statement underlined the new measure that was announced and took effect yesterday does not affect those commuting between Macau and Zhuhai daily because their negative NAT result is currently valid for just 24 hours, i.e., they must undergo a nucleic acid test every day.
Since early August, all those entering Macau from the mainland, except those entering from Zhuhai, have already been required to undergo a nucleic acid test within two days after arriving in Macau.
The new measure that was announced yesterday means that the Macau government’s requirement for arrivals from the mainland to undergo a nucleic acid test on the second day after entering Macau, which has been implemented since August 9, is now also extended to those entering from Zhuhai.
Observers noted yesterday that the new measure that was announced yesterday targets those flying to Zhuhai from other mainland cities en route to Macau.
