A non-resident worker (NRW) who works as a cleaner in Macau but lives in Zhuhai tested positive for COVID-19 in Zhuhai on Monday, Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement yesterday.
According to the statement, Zhuhai’s health authorities informed their Macau counterparts of the case yesterday morning.
The COVID-19 carrier is a 52-year-old man who works for Yinglong Services Limited, a local cleaning company, the statement said.
According to the statement, the man tested negative for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test (NAT) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, before testing positive on Monday.
On Sunday, the man worked in a VIP room, identified by the statement by its Chinese name 譽獅會, which is currently not open to gamblers as it is being renovated, on the second floor of the MGM MACAU casino-hotel in Nape.
On Monday, the man was cleaning in an area of Galaxy Macau’s Phase 3A in Cotai, which is not open yet either, the statement said.
On both days, the man entered Macau from Zhuhai via the Barrier Gate checkpoint in the morning, and returned to Zhuhai via the same checkpoint in the evening, according to the statement.
On the two days, according to the statement, the man travelled to his workplace from the Barrier Gate checkpoint by public bus, and travelled back to the checkpoint by public bus en route to Zhuhai after work.
Before returning to Zhuhai on Sunday and Monday evening, the man bought some goods in a shop near the Barrier Gate, the statement said.
24-hour NAT validity for Macau-Zhuhai travellers to continue for 7 more days
Meanwhile, Zhuhai’s health authorities said in a statement yesterday that the current 24-hour validity of the negative COVID-19 nucleic acid test (NAT) result for those travelling between Macau and Zhuhai, which was slated to end at 11:59 p.m. today, would be extended for seven more days until Wednesday next week.
The NAT validity for those travelling between Macau and Zhuhai was again shortened to just 24 hours from 48 hours on Wednesday afternoon last week, after the COVID-19 detection of a non-resident worker (NRW) who works as a security guard in Macau but lives in Zhongshan city. The case was detected in Macau on Tuesday night last week. At that time, the health authorities in Zhuhai and Macau decided to provisionally implement the shortened NAT validity for border crossers for seven days until 11:59 p.m. today.
Yesterday’s statement said that the two cities have now decided to extend the current 24-hour-validity measure for seven more days after considering the ongoing COVID-19 situation in both cities. The seven-day extension is now slated to end at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday next week.
No plan for mass tests for time being: Ao Ieong
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a public event yesterday, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U reaffirmed that for the time being the local government did not plan to launch a mandatory citywide NAT drive, because, she said, no positive results had been reported from the government’s ongoing five-day NAT campaign for three high-risk key areas, which was triggered by a mainland tourist’s COVID-19 case that was detected in Macau on Saturday. The ongoing NAT campaign for the three areas is slated to end today.
Ao Ieong spoke to reporters after attending a ceremony yesterday marking the completion of a new building on the campus of Kao Yip Middle School in Nape.
Current Macau-Zhuhai travel curbs slated to be implemented until January-end
Currently, travellers are only allowed to commute between Macau and Zhuhai once a day via the Barrier Gate-Gongbei and Qingmao checkpoints combined, except those belonging to certain special groups. The measure is provisionally implemented until 11:59 p.m. on January 31 next year.
The measure was initially rolled out on August 9 on a temporary basis, when it was applicable to all Macau-Zhuhai checkpoints. However, since then the measure’s implementation has been extended several times, but only applicable to certain Macau-Zhuhai checkpoints.
The current version of the measure is a three-month extension that started on November 1 and is now slated to end at 11:59 p.m. on January 31 next year. The measure’s current version is not applicable to the Hengqin checkpoint, the Wanzai checkpoint, and the Zhuhai-Macau checkpoint of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB), i.e., travellers are not subject to a limitation on the number of their commutes between the two cities per day via these three checkpoints.
According to the measure’s current version, certain special groups, such as cross-border drivers and mortuary workers, are not subject to a limitation on the number of commutes between the two cities.
However, according to the measure’s current version, cross-border students are only allowed to commute between the two cities twice a day and only via the Barrier Gate or Qingmao checkpoints.
This undated handout photo released by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows travellers walking in the Barrier Gate border checkpoint.
