A total of 13 new COVID-19 patients were admitted to local treatment facilities on Tuesday, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement yesterday.
It was the highest daily number of new COVID-19 patients admitted to treatment facilities since January 12 this year, when 16 new patients were hospitalised.
The 13 patients hospitalised on Tuesday comprised two at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, 10 at the private Kiang Wu Hospital, and one at the University Hospital run by the private Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Taipa.
The 13 new COVID-19 patients on Tuesday came after eight new patients were hospitalised on Sunday – two at the public hospital and six at Kiang Wu, while also eight new patients were hospitalised on Monday – two at the public hospital and six at Kiang Wu.
Consequently, a total of 80 new COVID-19 patients were admitted to treatment facilities between May 1 and May 16.
According to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) COVID-19 website, which was updated yesterday, Macau’s official cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 3,600, of which 3,452 had meanwhile been cured.
Last month, there were only two days when Macau had new COVID-19 patients admitted to treatment facilities – two on April 25 and three on April 27.
In March, there was only one day when the city had a new COVID-19 patient admitted to a treatment facility, on March 22. Consequently, only one new COVID-19 patient was admitted in the whole of March.
Macau had new COVID-19 patients admitted to treatment facilities on 12 days in February, during which the highest daily number of new patients admitted to treatment facilities stood at five, on February 1.
Macau suffered its first peak of widespread COVID-19 infections around the Christmas holiday following the local government’s decision to abandon its long-running dynamic zero-COVID approach on December 8. A one-month period transitioning the city from the zero-COVID approach ended on January 8, when the local government started to tackle COVID-19 as an endemic disease.
Macau’s highest daily number of new COVID-19 patients admitted to treatment facilities stood at 145 on December 29, after which the new daily number of patients hospitalised began to gradually drop.
Nine new COVID-19 patients were admitted to treatment facilities on January 13, and since then the new daily number of patients hospitalised had never exceed nine, before 13 new patients were admitted to treatment facilities on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Macau has not recorded any COVID-19 fatalities for 103 days in a row, from February 3 to May 16. Consequently, Macau’s official COVID-19 death toll has remained unchanged at 121.
Since Macau logged the highest daily official number of new COVID-19 fatalities of nine on January 5, the new daily number of fatalities had gradually been declining, before the latest fatality was reported on February 2.
The Health Bureau has reaffirmed that Macau is expected to be affected by the periodic occurrence of relatively small-scale peaks of COVID-19 infections in the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, a separate statement by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre yesterday urged healthy young and middle-aged people to avoid using emergency services when seeking treatment for COVID-19 at hospital, with the aim of ensuring that senior citizens and those with chronic diseases who have been infected with the novel coronavirus are able to receive treatment as soon as possible.
A woman poses for a photo in Largo do Senado, the city’s main square, last week.
– Photo: Tony Wong
