Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long said yesterday that the local government now expects the city’s COVID-19 infection peak to start three or four weeks after its gradual easing of COVID-19 restrictions, which got off the ground late last week.
The health chief also acknowledged that with the new anti-COVID-19 landscape in place, official statistics tends to underestimate the “real” number of people in the city infected with the novel coronavirus.
Lo made the remarks when attending a current affairs phone-in programme hosted by Ou Mun Tin Toi, the Chinese-language radio channel of public broadcaster TDM.
Lo also noted that Macau entered its second phase of relaxed COVID-19 restrictions yesterday, when the government’s home isolation for COVID-19 carriers commenced, according to which those who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in a nucleic acid test or a rapid antigen test may be able to undergo isolation at home, depending on the outcome of a self-health assessment to be submitted to the Health Bureau via an e-platform.
The local government announced last week that it had decided to transition the city from a dynamic zero-COVID approach to an anti-COVID-19 situation that implicitly allows constant transmissions of the novel coronavirus in the community. The government said last week that it will pursue a step-by-step approach towards easing COVID-19 restrictions with the aim of preventing a COVID-19 outbreak from occurring “exponentially”.
Lo said yesterday that as Macau has now entered the second phase of the government’s new anti-COVID-19 approach, he expects the number of daily new infections to continue rising.
The health chief also reaffirmed that over 90 percent of those infected with the Omicron variant will normally be asymptomatic or just come down with slight symptoms, because of which they can undergo isolation at home.
402 new cases on Tuesday
The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement yesterday that Macau reported 402 new COVID-19 cases related to the community on Tuesday. The 402 cases were detected between 00:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday.
The 402 cases reported on Tuesday broke the record of daily new cases of 382 that were detected on Monday.
Yesterday’s statement pointed out that as of 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Macau had reported a total of 1,325 COVID-19 cases involving the community since November 28, when Macau’s current COVID-19 began.
The statement said that 290 of the 402 new COVID-19 cases had been classified as asymptomatic, while the other 112 had been classified as confirmed cases as the carriers have come down with COVID-19 symptoms.
According to the statement, only two of the 402 cases were detected in hospitals or quarantine hotels used for COVID-19 medical observation, while the other 400 cases were directly detected in the community.
Lo said during yesterday’s phone-in programme that for the time being the daily new infections have still been rising steadily, but warned that Macau’s COVID-19 infection peak would start only in three or four weeks.
Lo also acknowledged that as the local government is no longer pursuing the dynamic zero-COVID approach, residents are now generally not required to undergo a nucleic acid test (NAT) or a rapid antigen test (RAT) unless when they need to enter certain venues or facilities. Consequently, he admitted, the “real” number of people in the city infected with the novel coronavirus tends to be underestimated by officially reported statistics.
Eight community clinics designated for assessments of health conditions of COVID-19 carriers or patients started operating yesterday. The government said last week that about 20 COVID-19 community clinics in total would be operational in the near future.
Free anti-COVID-19 kits
Meanwhile, the collection of free anti-COVID-19 kits provided by the government started yesterday.
Local residents, non-resident workers, non-local students enrolled in Macau’s higher education institutions, and other non-locals holding a permit to stay in Macau are entitled to the kits, which contain antipyretics, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) supplements, RAT kits and KN95 facemasks.
The government started to hand out the kits to various target groups on Thursday last week, i.e., the government started on that day its first distribution phase. The programme’s second phase, which began yesterday and is slated to end on Sunday, requires the population in general – other than target groups such as those living in retirement homes – to collect their kits at one of 35 designated points across the city.
People in the second phase must book an appointment on https://eservice.ssm.gov.mo/antiepidemicbagbook, before collecting the kits.
This photo taken yesterday shows antipyretics, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) supplements, rapid antigen test (RAT) kits and KN95 facemasks contained in an anti-COVID-19 kit. – Photo: Yuki Lei
People queue to collect government-provided anti-COVID-19 kits at a designated point in Nam Van yesterday evening. – Photo: Yuki Lei
