Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement yesterday afternoon that Macau reported 19 new COVID-19 cases involving the community on Tuesday.
The 19 cases were detected between 00:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday.
Yesterday’s statement also pointed out that as of 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Macau had reported a total of 78 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.
Yesterday’s statement said that the 19 new COVID-19 carriers or patients detected on Tuesday comprise 5 females and 14 males, aged between 13 and 61. The statement said that seven of them had been classified as asymptomatic cases, while the other 12 had been classified as confirmed cases because of having come down with COVID-19 symptoms.
According to the statement, three of the 19 cases were detected in quarantine hotels used for COVID-19 medical observation, while the other 16 cases were detected in the community.
The 16 cases detected in the community, according to the statement, comprised two close contacts, one detected in an outpatient clinic, three detected by rapid antigen tests (RATs), seven detected by tests carried out at nucleic acid test (NAT) sampling stations in Macau, two detected by tests carried out at NAT sampling stations in Zhuhai, and one who had been classified by the mainland’s health authorities as a COVID-19 close contact.
The 16 cases detected in the community in Macau comprised 11 that have been classified by the Macau Health Bureau (SSM) as imported from the mainland, one classified as connected to an imported case, and four whose infection sources were still being identified by the Health Bureau.
24-hour NAT validity for Macau-Zhuhai travellers to continue for 7 more days
Meanwhile, the 24-hour validity of the negative COVID-19 NAT result for those travelling between Macau and Zhuhai, which was slated to end at 11:59 p.m. yesterday, has now been extended for seven more days until next Wednesday. The seven-day extension was announced by Zhuhai’s health authorities in a statement yesterday.
Yesterday’s statement said that the two cities have decided to extend the 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.
5 more venues join sales programme for RAT kits
Meanwhile, the centre also announced in another statement yesterday that five more venues have joined the government’s current programme that enables local residents, non-resident workers (NRWs), and non-local students enrolled in Macau’s higher education institutions to buy rapid antigen test (RAT) kits used for COVID-19 self-tests from designated outlets at a discounted price.
The five new venues are run by the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations, commonly known as Kai Fong in Cantonese.
The programme started on Tuesday. each eligible individual can buy a total of five RAT kits at the fixed price of 20 patacas, i.e., four patacas per kit, until January 4 next year.
In addition to the five new Kai Fong venues that were announced yesterday, COVID-19 RAT kits provided by the programme are also sold at 55 designated pharmacies, and five venues run by the Macau Women’s General Association, commonly known as Fu Luen in Cantonese.
Consequently, yesterday’s statement pointed out, COVID-19 RAT kits provided by the programme are now sold at 65 venues.
