Just one new patient diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease was admitted to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) isolation and treatment facilities on Tuesday, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced yesterday.
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 3,488, of which 3,357 had meanwhile been cured.
Macau’s official COVID-19 death toll has remained unchanged at 120 as no fatalities were recorded on Tuesday. Macau has not recorded any COVID-19 fatalities for six consecutive days, from Thursday last week to Tuesday, after two fatalities were reported on Wednesday last week.
For the time being the Macau Health Bureau is still urging everyone in Macau to continue wearing a facemask when they are in public places, despite the fact that Macau’s COVID-19 situation has subsided since last month, which came after Macau suffered its first peak of widespread COVID-19 infections around the Christmas holiday period resulting from the local government’s decision to abandon its long-running dynamic zero-COVID approach in early December.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng told reporters last month that for the time being it was not suitable for Macau to relax its facemask-wearing recommendations with the aim of protecting senior citizens and children from the novel coronavirus, considering that around 20 percent of the population had still not been infected with COVID-19 at that time. Ho underlined that COVID-19 was still affecting Macau, adding that everyone in Macau “has become used to” wearing a facemask when out and about for three years. Macau confirmed its first novel coronavirus case on January 22, 2020.
