Govt urges bosses to find local homes for imported workers living in Zhuhai
Local woman confirmed as Macau’s 8th coronavirus patient
Tony Wong
Addressing yesterday’s daily press conference about Macau’s latest novel coronavirus situation, Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong said that for non-resident workers who commute between Macau and Zhuhai every day and whose continued work here is considered necessary by their employers then the latter should provide them with temporary accommodation in Macau so that they won’t need to commute between the two cities during the current Wuhan novel coronavirus threat.
Lei also said that for those non-residents workers whose work is not absolutely needed at the moment then their employers should arrange for them to remain in Zhuhai for the time being and not come back Macau to work until the Wuhan virus epidemic subsides.
Lei said that the measure aimed to further reduce the flow of people travelling between the two cities so as to reduce the risk of cross infection.
Lei made the announcement during a 90-minute press conference yesterday evening at the Health Bureau (SSM) next to the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre,in the wake of Macau’s eighth case of the novel coronavirus announced yesterday morning as being a local woman. It is the first time that a local resident has been infected with the virus. All the seven previous patients are from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. All of them are still in hospital.
Lei said that the government had discussed the issue of non-resident workers commuting daily between Macau and Zhuhai with representatives from the city’s major business associations and from an association of employment agencies hiring workers from the mainland.
Lei said he had told the associations to urge local employers to reduce the number of non-resident workers commuting between the two cities every day by arranging accommodation for those in Macau whose work is essential for their business operations.
Informed sources told The Macau Post Daily that the number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases in Zhuhai stood at 47 last night.
Lei said last week during the daily press conference that currently some 35,000 of Macau’s non-resident workers live in Zhuhai and are commuting between the two cities every day. Macau has a population of nearly 680,000, which includes about 190,000 non-resident workers, about two-thirds of them from the Chinese mainland.
During yesterday’s press conference, Chio Song Un, who heads the Planning and Operations Department of the Public Security Police (PSP), said that the police recorded 1.53 million entries and exits at the city’s eight border checkpoints during the seven-day Chinese New Year holiday period (from January 24 to 30) –218,000 per day on average, a 61.3 percent drop compared to the corresponding period last year.
Chio said that the number of entries and exits over the past seven days has been decreasing – 182,000 per day on average over the past seven days. Among the182,000 entries and exits per day on average, 55,000 were local residents,56,000 visitors, and 70,000 non-resident workers (35,000 entries and 35,000exits), according to Chio.
Gaming operators back accommodation measure
According to a statement jointly issued by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau(DICJ) and the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) last night, officials of the two bureaus held a meeting with representatives from the city’s six gaming operators to discuss the government’s proposed arrangement concerning the provision of temporary accommodation in Macau for non-resident workers. The statement said that the six gaming operators support the arrangement.
According to the statement, the Associação de Agências de Emprego de Capital da China(Macau) also told the government yesterday that it supports the government’s arrangement and would help local employers implement the arrangement.
Coronavirus also transmitted by faeces
During yesterday’s press conference, Lo Iek Long, a consultant pulmonologists at the public hospital, said that the Health Bureau has discovered that the novel coronavirus virus can also be transmitted by patients’ faeces, as shown in cases recorded in Macau. According to Lo, even though one of the eight patients had tested negative for the virus twice through swab samples taken from the throat following a certain period of treatment, the patient’s faeces sample still tested positive for the virus four days later.
Lo pointed out that the 2003 SARS virus and the MERS virus can be transmitted by patients ’faeces. Lo said that after patients’ faeces samples tested positive for the novel coronavirus virus in the United States and Shenzhen recently, the Health Bureau also found that five of the eight patients in Macau through faeces samples also tested positive for the novel coronavirus
Lo said that while it has been confirmed that the coronavirus virus can be transmitted in two ways, namely via respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes, or due to people having touched items polluted by the virus and then touching their eyes, nose or mouth with their hands, the cases in the United States, Shenzhen and Macau have revealed the possibility of faeces-to-mouth transmission of the novel coronavirus virus – when a person touches items polluted by a patient’s faeces and then touches his or her eyes, nose or mouth.
Lo said that therefore the Health Bureau would need to discuss and decide whether to implement new criteria for whether to discharge a novel coronavirus virus patient following treatment and apparent recovery – i.e. discharging those patients whose throat culture and faeces samples tested negative for the virus.
Health Bureau Director Lei Chin Ion said that the local government has reported its findings on the matter in Macau to an international medical academic journal.
Lo said that the findings show that hospital cleaners could also possibly be infected with the novel coronavirus virus via patients’ faeces so that they would alsoneed to follow and act in strict line with protective measures when handling patients’ faeces.
Advising against travel between Macau, Zhuhai
During yesterday’s press conference, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U, who oversees the government’s health service portfolio, reaffirmed that the public administration will only provide basic and limited services during the five working days this week. She again urged residents to avoid leaving home unless necessary. She urged Macau people who live in Zhuhai not to travel between the two cities.
Ao Ieong also said that five million facemasks were sold during the first round of the government’s mask purchase scheme at a fixed price for local residents and non-resident workers, which ended on Saturday. The government said last month that it would order 20 million facemasks, not all of which have yet been delivered to Macau. In the second round, which started yesterday, the arrangement is the same as in the first round – both local residents and non-resident workers can each buy a maximum of 10 masks every 10 days.
Lei Wai Nong said that another four million facemasks will be delivered to Macau on Thursday next week, most of them from Southeast Asian countries.
Local woman is city’s 8th case
In a statement yesterday morning, the government said that the city’s 8th novel coronavirus patient is a 64-year-old local unemployed woman. Her infection has been classified as an imported case, based on preliminary data, the government said.
According to yesterday’s statement, the woman came down with a fever and cough last Monday, after which she sought medical treatment at the emergency ward of the public Conde de São Januario Hospital Centre. As her condition did not improve,she sought treatment at the private Kiang Wu Hospital on Thursday and Friday. She returned to seek treatment at the private hospital on Saturday, complaining of abdominal pain. She underwent a computed tomography (CT) scan, which showed mild symptoms of pneumonia, according to the statement.
She was transferred to the public hospital on Saturday afternoon where she tested positive for the novel coronavirus. She has been placed in isolation for treatment.
The statement noted that the woman was an in-patient at Zhuhai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine on January 10-17, having been diagnosed with herpes zoster. She told doctors that she bought live poultry from a wet market in Sanxiang town of Zhongshan city on January 22 and stayed in the town some 20 kilometres north of Macau on January 22-23.
According to the statement, the patient has moderate symptoms of novel coronavirus infection. According to her account, she had neither been in Hubei province nor in adjacent areas, nor was she aware of having been in touch with any patients diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, the statement underlined.
The statement stressed that Macau's team for disease prevention and control has been conducting a follow-up investigation of her epidemiological history and identifying people who might have had been in close contact with her.
Taxi and No. 7 bus trips by local patient
During yesterday’s press conference, SSM Control of Communicable Diseases and Surveillance of Diseases Department Coordinator Leong Iek Hou said that the first local patient lives in Wa Mau San Chun building in Areia Preta district. Leong revealed that the woman took a taxi when she went to seek medical treatment at the public hospital last Tuesday, and returned home also by taxi .During her first two trips to the private Kiang Wu Hospital, she took the No. 7route bus, and returned home also by the No. 7 route bus. During the third trip to the private Kiang Wu Hospital, she also took the No. 7 route bus.
According to Leong, the woman told doctors that she had always been wearing a facemask during her trips to the two hospitals.
Leong said that the authorities were still looking for the two cabbies at the time of the press conference.
According to Leong, the woman’s husband, a doctor and a nurse of the Kiang Wu Hospital have been classified as close contacts who need to undergo medical observation for 14 days. Another 289 people, comprising other patients and medical staff,have been classified as general contacts who are required to monitor their health themselves for 14 days.
Meanwhile, a statement by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) yesterday urged the city’s casino operators to ensure that all gamblers are wearing facemasks.
A statement by the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) urged all pupils and teachers to stay at home
The Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) said in a statement that all community and day service facilities will be suspended this week.
The government also reiterated that the Immigration Department will provide limited services this week.
Macau’s post offices will open from 12 noon to 5 p.m. from today until Friday, while only some including the General Post Office in Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro will be open on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
