Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong acknowledged yesterday that as the mainland’s health authorities are gradually relaxing their COVID-19 prevention and control measures, the Macau government will also ease its COVID-19 measures accordingly, but she insisted that the local government’s adjusted COVID-19 policies do not mean that it will abandon COVID-19 prevention and control work.
The policy secretary said that Macau’s COVID-19 measures could be gradually eased because the Omicron variant is less pathogenic than the original COVID-19 strain.
Ao Ieong acknowledged that with COVID-19 measures to be relaxed in Macau, COVID-19 cases could be expected to become more common in the community, but she underlined that the local government will certainly not allow a massive outbreak to occur.
Ao Ieong made the remarks while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Q&A plenary session in the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) hemicycle.
Omicron’s weaker pathogenicity
Ao Ieong noted that more and more findings and data of scientific research have indicated that Omicron’s pathogenicity and virulence has decreased compared with the original strain of the novel coronavirus, adding that the majority of those who have been infected with Omicron are normally asymptomatic.
The policy secretary noted that those who have still come down with a fever after getting infected with Omicron can normally have the symptoms subside after taking antipyretics.
Ao Ieong pointed out that Macau has been following the mainland’s COVID-19 policy. As the mainland’s health authorities are now gradually relaxing their COVID-19 measures, she said, Macau will follow accordingly.
Consequently, Ao Ieong said, the Macau government is now studying how to gradually ease its strategy in response to the new COVID-19 landscape.
For instance, the policy secretary pointed out, the Macau government has relaxed its criteria for listing buildings affected by COVID-19 as Red Code Zones and secondary COVID-19 close contacts are no longer required to undergo quarantine. “A close contact of a close contact” of a COVID-19 patient or carrier is known as a “secondary COVID-19 close contact”.
Ao Ieong urged residents to be psychologically prepared for the new COVID-19 landscape that the novel coronavirus would gradually enter the community and become more common.
Nevertheless, Ao Ieong underlined that the gradual relaxation of the COVID-19 measures does not mean that the local government will stop its work that aims to bring Macau’s COVID-19 situation under control.
The policy secretary reaffirmed that the local government will certainly not allow a massive COVID-19 outbreak to occur in the city, adding that Macau’s health system is unable to tackle such a situation.
She underlined that the Macau government will not drop its fight against COVID-19, adding that abandoning COVID-19 prevention and control work refers to the situation in certain other places outside Macau where a large number of people are admitted to hospital and die of the novel coronavirus resulting from a massive COVID-19 outbreak.
Contingency plan
Consequently, Ao Ieong said, the local government is preparing a contingency plan for tackling a possible situation in which new COVID-19 cases are constantly detected in the community.
According to Ao Ieong, the local government will strengthen outpatient services in the public health system for treatment of COVID-19 patients with symptoms. In addition, online counselling will also be provided for COVID-19 patients or carriers in need.
The government will also soon release “infographics” teaching residents how to take care of themselves and take medicines used for relieving symptoms at home if they are infected with COVID-19, Ao Ieong said.
The infographics will also brief residents about the characteristics of the Omicron variant and typical symptoms of those infected with Omicron, the policy secretary said.
Ao Ieong also said that the government will start providing residents with an anti-COVID-19 package containing different items helping them tackle COVID-19, late this week or early next week.
6,000 seniors aged 80 or over still not jabbed
Furthermore, Ao Ieong underlined that despite its weaker pathogenicity, the Omicron variant will generally have a bigger impact on senior citizens and those with chronic diseases who have been infected with COVID-19. She said that Macau’s COVID-19 vaccination rate among senior citizens is currently still not high enough, adding that there are still around 6,000 senior citizens aged 80 or over in Macau who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The policy secretary noted that the local government has been ensuring the health of residents over the past three years by battling COVID-19, urging unvaccinated people to also ensure their own health by getting inoculated against the novel coronavirus.
Asked by reporters, Ao Ieong did not give an official definition of a massive COVID-19 outbreak, but she added that the Macau government would need to impose citywide strict COVID-19 measures in case Macau reports 5,000 new COVID-19 community cases a day, such as suspension of school classes, dining-in services at restaurants, and all large-scale events.
Ao Ieong also said that if a school reports 10 new cases, it may be required to suspend classes, depending on the cases’ situation.
Macau logs 19 new COVID-19 cases on Monday
Meanwhile, Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement yesterday evening that Macau reported three more COVID-19 cases in the community between 6 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Monday. Yesterday evening’s statement came after the centre announced on Monday night that Macau reported 16 new COVID-19 cases involving the community that day, as of 6 p.m., i.e., between 00:00 a.m. and 6 p.m. that day.
Consequently, according to Monday night and yesterday evening’s statements, Macau reported 19 new COVID-19 cases involving the community on Monday.
Yesterday’s statement announced that from today, the centre will only announce the number of daily new COVID-19 cases involving the community once a day. According to the new arrangement, the statement said, from today the centre will announce the number of new COVID-19 cases involving the community that were detected between 00:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on the previous day, every afternoon.
Yesterday’s statement also pointed out that as of 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Macau had reported a total of 59 COVID-19 cases since Monday last week.
Some of the cases detected during Macau’s current COVID-19 situation were related to a cluster that started with a taxi driver on Monday last week.
As of yesterday, Macau’s official COVID-19 tally of confirmed and asymptomatic cases stood at 827 and 2,011 respectively, of which 791 and 1,897 had meanwhile been cured. The death toll remained at six.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U talks to reporters at the Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday. – Photo: GCS
