Macau’s official COVID-19 death toll has risen to 52, after 19 people died of the novel coronavirus disease in four days, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre has announced.
According to four latest daily statements by the centre, which were released from Friday to yesterday, Macau recorded five COVID-19 fatalities on Thursday, seven on Friday, two on Saturday, and five on Sunday.
The 19 victims, 14 males and 5 females, aged between 66 and 98, had all suffered from underlying diseases, according to the statements.
According to the statements, 12 of the 19 fatalities had not been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, or about 63 percent.
Different to previous statements by the centre about COVID-19 fatalities, the four latest daily statements by the centre did not announce how many COVID-19 jabs the vaccinated fatalities, i.e., the remaining seven of the 19 fatalities, had each received.
Meanwhile, from Thursday to Sunday, according to the four statements, the daily new number of patients admitted to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) isolation and treatment facilities after having been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease were 145, 124, 114, and 78 respectively.
According to the Health Bureau’s COVID-19 website, which was updated yesterday, Macau’s official cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 2,693, of which 1,878 had meanwhile been cured.
Early last month, the local government switched to an adjusted anti-COVID-19 approach that implicitly allows constant transmissions of the novel coronavirus in the community.
Over half of population infected: Ao Ieong
Meanwhile, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U told reporters on Friday that the government estimated that over 50 percent of the population had already been infected with COVID-19 at that time.
Ao Ieong said that the government estimated that Macau had its first peak of COVID-19 infections between December 21 and 23, based on its statistical models concerning Macau’s current COVID-19 infection wave as well as its various COVID-19 related figures such as the latest daily numbers of people reporting their positive self-test results on the Health Bureau’s online platform, people seeking assessments at COVID-19 community clinics, and people using the government’s support hotline for COVID-19 carriers.
Ao Ieong also said that Macau entered a peak of daily new serious cases on Tuesday last week, adding that after the city passes the peak, the daily new number of cases could be expected to start dropping.
The policy secretary said that the government expected Macau to soon enter its “third phase” of the government’s adjusted anti-COVID-19 approach, when the number of people infected per day would gradually decrease and more and more infected people would recover.
When the Macau government announced its adjusted anti-COVID-19 approach early last month, Ao Ieong said that between 50 and 80 percent of the population were eventually expected to be infected with the novel coronavirus.
Ao Ieong said on Friday that the government did not believe that 80 percent of the population had yet been infected with COVID-19 at that time, but estimated that over 50 percent had been “very likely” infected.
School class resumption to be ‘next challenge’
Ao Ieong also said that Macau’s “next challenge” for its fight against COVID-19 will occur on Monday next week when schoolchildren will return to their classrooms.
Meanwhile, the policy secretary also said that the Omicron BF.7 subvariant and the Omicron BA.5 subvariant were prevalent in Macau initially after the local government eased its COVID-19 curbs early last month, when each accounted for around half of infections. She said that the BA.5 subvariant has become more prevalent than the BF.7 subvariant more recently.
The BF.7 subvariant is the one currently prevalent in Beijing, while the BA.5 subvariant is currently prevalent in Guangzhou.
Ao Ieong also said that the local government believed that the number of daily new infections would fluctuate in the near future, sometimes higher and sometimes lower, but would not be as high as the number when the infection peak occurred around two weeks ago.
Nevertheless, Ao Ieong urged residents to be well prepared for the possible “periodic” occurrence of peaks of COVID-19 infections in the future.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U talks to reporters at The Plaza Restaurant in Zape on Friday, after attending a reception marking the 130th anniversary of local charitable society Tung Sin Tong. – Photo: GCS
