A 75-year-old man died of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, raising Macau’s official COVID-19 death toll to 33, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced yesterday.
According to a statement by the centre, the victim, who had suffered from underlying diseases, had received two COVID-19 jabs.
The first six of the 33 COVID-19 fatalities were reported during Macau’s previous COVID-19 outbreak that began on June 18 this year and started to subside in late July, colloquially known as 618 outbreak in Cantonese. The Macau government was pursuing a dynamic zero-COVID approach when the city was hit by the 618 outbreak.
The seventh fatality was reported on December 13, which came after Macau switched to an adjusted anti-COVID-19 approach that implicitly allows constant transmissions of the novel coronavirus in the community, which got off the ground around three weeks ago.
Macau logs 88 new patients on Wednesday
Meanwhile, yesterday’s statement also announced that 88 new patients diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease were admitted to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) isolation and treatment facilities on Wednesday.
The Health Bureau’s isolation and treatment facilities currently comprise the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane, and hotels used for isolation treatment.
72-hour NAT validity for Macau-Zhuhai travellers to continue for 7 more days
Meanwhile, the 72-hour validity of the negative COVID-19 nucleic acid test (NAT) result for those travelling between Macau and Zhuhai, which is slated to end at 11:59 p.m. tomorrow, will be extended for seven more days. The seven-day extension, which was announced by Zhuhai’s health authorities in a statement yesterday, is now slated to end at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday next week.
Currently, those arriving in Macau from all other areas in the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, as well as foreign countries are also only required to display a 72-hour negative NAT result when embarking for their trip to Macau.
Those arriving in Macau from Hong Kong, Taiwan or foreign countries have not been required to undergo home quarantine since Friday last week.
Asymptomatic?
When the Macau government announced its adjusted anti-COVID-19 approach around three weeks ago, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U said that the latest data worldwide had indicated that over 50 percent of those infected with Omicron were normally asymptomatic, while the remainder would usually come down with different levels of symptoms, including serious cases and fatalities.
At that time, Health Bureau Director Alvis Lo Iek Long said that around 90 percent of those infected with Omicron would normally be asymptomatic or just come down with symptoms that do not require hospitalisation, such as fever, cough and sore throat, adding that such patients would normally recover in seven days.
Nevertheless, medical sources have told The Macau Post Daily that apart from those who needed to be admitted to the government’s isolation and treatment facilities, most of those infected with the novel coronavirus in Macau’s current COVID-19 wave have come down with rather different levels of symptoms, some of whom have developed relatively slight symptoms while other have come down with relatively severe symptoms.
The sources said that many of those infected in the city’s current COVID-19 wave have come down with a wide range of symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, and nasal congestion.
The medical sources have said that the percentage of those infected with COVID-19 in the current wave who are asymptomatic has been lower than what the government had apparently expected.
Ho’s definition of asymptomatic infection
Speaking to reporters at the local airport on Saturday last week upon return from a four-day duty visit to Beijing, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said that “asymptomatic” COVID-19 infection could also refer to a situation where carriers do not come down with “heavy” symptoms but develop relatively slight symptoms that may still require them to take medicines to help relieve their symptoms. “Asymptomatic infection does not mean that the carrier does not need to take medicines,” the chief executive said.
Ho made the remarks when asked by reporters who said that many of those infected with COVID-19 in the current wave have developed a wide range of symptoms, in apparent contrast to the Health Bureau’s expectations.
Ho also said on Saturday last week that he expected people in Macau to be able to return to normal life like in the pre-pandemic period after going through the current “difficult and tough” period hit by widespread COVID-19 infections.
According to official statistics, as of yesterday Macau’s tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 2,232, of which 1,392 had meanwhile been cured. The official death toll amounted to 33.
Travellers use e-channels in the Barrier Gate border checkpoint yesterday. – Photo courtesy of TDM
