Macau’s COVID-19 death toll has risen by two to 13, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced yesterday.
According to a statement by the centre, both victims had suffered from various underlying diseases.
While one of them had not been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, the other had received three COVID-19 jabs.
According to the statement, Macau’s 12th COVID-19 fatality, a 56-year-old man who had received three COVID-19 shots, had suffered from high blood pressure, stroke, epilepsy, and oesophageal cancer. The patient, who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday last week, was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia the next day.
The man came down with hypotension on Saturday, before his condition deteriorated and he died on Sunday.
According to the statement, the 13th fatality, a 63-year-old unvaccinated man, had suffered from hypertension, diabetes, and tuberculosis (TB). The patient, who had tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, died on Sunday after suffering both cardiac arrest and respiratory arrest.
Macau logs 97 new patients on Sunday
Meanwhile, yesterday’s statement also announced that 97 new patients diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease were admitted to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) isolation and treatment facilities on Sunday.
Since Thursday last week, the Macau government has no longer announced daily new asymptomatic COVID-19 infections, and instead it has only announced daily the new number of patients admitted to facilities run or arranged by the Health Bureau, which currently comprise the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane, and hotels used for isolation treatment.
In line with the new classification criteria, the new numbers of patients daily admitted to the Health Bureau’s isolation and treatment facilities were 45 on Wednesday, 66 on Thursday, 43 on Friday, and 64 on Saturday last week.
NAT validity for Macau-Zhuhai travellers raised to 72 hours
Meanwhile, the validity of the negative COVID-19 nucleic acid test (NAT) result for those travelling between Macau and Zhuhai has now been raised to 72 hours from just 24 hours. The relaxed NAT validity took effect at 00:00 a.m. today.
The 72-hour validity, which was announced by Zhuhai’s health authorities in a statement yesterday, is provisionally slated to be implemented until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday next week.
Also 72-hour NAT validity for all other arrivals
Meanwhile, Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre also announced in a statement yesterday that from 00:00 a.m. today, those arriving from all other areas in the mainland are now only required to display a 72-hour negative NAT result when boarding a plane, or a ferry from Shenzhen, a relaxation from a 48-hour result.
In addition, from 00:00 a.m. today arrivals from Hong Kong, Taiwan as well as foreign countries are now also only required to display a 72-hour negative NAT result when embarking on their trip to Macau, also a relaxation from a 48-hour result.
New vaccination facility opens at Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion
Meanwhile, the Macau government will open a new COVID-19 vaccination facility today, at Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion’s Pavilion A, which is used for the administration of both Sinopharm inactivated jabs and BioNTech mRNA shots. The operational start of the new facility was announced in a statement yesterday.
In addition, the Mong Ha Sports Centre has again been used as a COVID-19 vaccination facility since Wednesday last week, which is now used for the administration of BioNTech mRNA jabs.
The Mong Ha Sports Centre had previously been used as a COVID-19 inoculation facility for the administration of Sinopharm jabs, before the government closed it in June this year.
Furthermore, the Praia do Manduco (Ha Van) Health Centre, which has been used for the administration of Sinopharm jabs since the government’s launch of its COVID-19 vaccination programme early last year, has also been used for the administration of BioNTech jabs since early this month. This means that both types of COVID-19 vaccines are now available at the Ha Van Health Centre.
As of Sunday, Macau’s tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 1,427, according to the latest available statistics last night.
This photo released by the Health Bureau (SSM) yesterday shows its director Alvis Lo Iek Long chairing a meeting with representatives from the city’s healthcare sector earlier this week. Lo underlined during the meeting that Macau has the condition for switching to an adjusted anti-COVID-19 model in compliance with the mainland due to Omicron’s weaker pathogenicity. Lo also said he expected a continuous rise in the number of COVID-19 patients to be admitted to isolation and treatment facilities every day in the near future.
