The government-appointed Central District Community Service Consultative Council held its regular monthly meeting yesterday, where various concerns were raised, including issues such as bad weather and mosquitoes.
The first part of the meeting was open to the media, during which committee members raised various issues in their speeches. The meeting then proceeded behind closed doors. It included the Geophysical and Meteorological Bureau (SMG) Meteorological and Warning Department Acting Chief Lok Chan Wa, who gave a presentation on the characteristics and related knowledge of tropical cyclones and storm surges.
The two hour-and-15 minute meeting was held at the Patane Activity Centre on Avenida de Demétrio Cinatti (爹美刁施拿地大馬路).
In the first part of the meeting, councillor Wong Chi Choi emphasised the importance of preventing chikungunya fever.
According to Wong, Macau faces a tangible risk of a community transmission of chikungunya fever. He proposed that the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) take the lead in intensifying mosquito eradication in high-risk zones, while the Health Bureau (SSM) should establish a community alert system with accessible screening protocols and clinical guidelines. He also said, with frequent population movement during the summer, he urged for the strict quarantine of imported cases to prevent local outbreaks.
Fellow councillor Choi Tong said that the medical surveillance network should enhance the capacity of both public and private healthcare institutions to identify mosquito-borne diseases. He recommended rapid screening for suspected cases presenting with fever or joint pain, followed by immediate isolation of confirmed cases and emergency mosquito eradication to prevent an outbreak escalation and ensure community safety, he said.
In the post-meeting summary, the council’s deputy convenor Pui Seng In cited the SMG statement that global warming has intensified extreme weather events in Macau, evidenced by five No. 10 typhoon signals issued over the past nine years – surpassing historical averages – and record-breaking rainfall in 2021. To combat these challenges, the Meteorological Bureau has implemented innovative measures including expanding monitoring stations to form a dense observation network, deploying AI to enhance rainstorm and typhoon forecasting precision, and establishing a tiered “qualitative-to-quantitative” warning system with real-time updates via official websites and WeChat.
Fellow councillor Chan Hio Teng added that, the government had upgraded interdepartmental video-conferencing systems before typhoon season to boosted emergency response efficiency, while public disaster awareness was strengthened through 8,800 participant engagements via the observatory’s digital outreach last year.
Central District Community Service Consultative Council Deputy Convenor Pui Seng In (right) and fellow councillor Chan Hio Teng pose during yesterday’s press briefing after the government-appointed council’s closed-door meeting at the Patane Activity Centre on Avenida de Demétrio Cinatti yesterday. – Photo: Armindo Neves
