The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement yesterday that the government’s 12th round of its rapid antigen test (RAT) kit purchase scheme will start on Friday.
As in previous rounds, the 12th round of the programme will run for 14 days, between Friday and May 11, during which each local resident, non-resident worker and non-local student enrolled in Macau’s higher education institutions will be entitled to buy a total of 10 RAT kits at the fixed price of 40 patacas at designated outlets, i.e., four patacas per kit.
According to the statement, COVID-19 RAT kits provided by the programme’s 12th round will be sold at 55 designated pharmacies, five venues run by the Macau Women’s General Association (known as Fu Luen in Cantonese), and five venues run by the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (Gung Luen).
The statement reminded the public that buyers can return defective RAT kits that have been purchased through the programme to public health centres, and change them for new ones.
The Macau government rolled out the programme in early December last year, enabling local residents, non-resident workers, and non-local students enrolled in Macau’s higher education institutions to buy RAT kits used for COVID-19 self-tests from designated outlets at a discounted price.
The local government has still not indicated an exact schedule as to when it will eventually cancel its COVID-19 RAT kit purchase scheme, as well as its facemask purchase scheme, which was rolled out in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect the city.
No COVID-19 deaths for 81 days
Meanwhile, Macau had not recorded any COVID-19 fatalities for 81 days in a row, from February 3 to April 24, according to a separate statement by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre yesterday, which announced that no fatalities were recorded on Monday.
Consequently, Macau’s official COVID-19 death toll has remained unchanged at 121.
No new patients admitted for 33 days
Moreover, no new COVID-19 patients had been admitted to hospital for 33 consecutive days, from March 23 to April 24, after one new patient diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease was admitted to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) isolation and treatment facility on March 22.
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 3,515, of which 3,393 had meanwhile been cured.
The Health Bureau said last week that infections with Arcturus, a new Omicron subvariant, have been detected in Macau since earlier this month. The Arcturus subvariant, scientifically known as XBB.1.16, was first detected in India in January. Arcturus, which is driving the current wave of COVID-19 infections in India, has now been detected in around two dozen countries. The world’s first fatality infected with Arcturus was reported in Thailand last week.
