Addressing yesterday’s daily press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, Alvis Lo Iek Long, a clinical director of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, announced that two COVID-19 patients were discharged from the public hospital yesterday, taking the number of those no longer requiring hospitalisation to 15 among Macau’s total of 45 COVUD-19 cases.
According to Lo, the two discharged patients comprise a 21-year-old local male student who returned from Portugal (Macau’s 36th COVID-19 case) and a 19-year-old local male student who returned from the United Kingdom (the 35th case).
According to Lo, the 21-year-old student departed from Lisbon on March 13 for Hong Kong via Dubai. After arriving in Macau on March 15, he started to undergo 14 days of home quarantine. He came down with a fever and a headache on March 17, but tested negative for the novel coronavirus twice – on March 18 and 20, after which he continued his home quarantine. He tested positive for COVID-19 on March 28 – shortly before the end of his home quarantine period – and a CT scan showed pneumonia in his left lung, after which he was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease.
According to Lo, the 19-year-old student was doing an internship at a hospital in London between March 2 and 13 where he had contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients. He came down with a fever on March 24. He departed from London on March 26 for Hong Kong. Upon arrival in Macau on March 27, Health Bureau (SSM) officials detected that he had a fever so that he was transferred to the public hospital’s special emergency ward for COVID-19 tests. He tested positive for COVID-19 on March 28 and a CT scan showed double pneumonia, after which he was diagnosed with the disease.
According to Lo, both met the official criteria for COVID-19 patients to be discharged after 18-day treatment in the isolation ward. Following their discharge yesterday, both were transferred to the Health Bureau’s Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for 14 days of recovery period isolation.
Following yesterday’s discharge of the two students, a total of 30 COVID-19 patients remained hospitalised. Only one of the patients still in hospital is in a serious condition.
Macau has so far confirmed 45 COVID-19 cases. The 10 patients (seven tourists from Wuhan and three locals) in Macau’s “first wave” of the COVID-19 infection – which lasted from January 22 to February 4 – have been discharged, while five of the 35 patients in the “second wave” – which began on March 15 – have been discharged since Easter Sunday. All the 35 cases in the current “second wave” have been classified as imported, most of them local students returning from overseas. The 45th case was confirmed last Wednesday, meaning that the city has not confirmed a new COVID-19 case for six consecutive days in the “second wave”.
Unlike Hong Kong, Macau has been spared a community outbreak of the highly infectious disease. As of last night, Hong Kong had 1,012 confirmed cases with four deaths.
Alvis Lo Iek Long, one of the three clinical directors of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, addresses yesterday’s press conference at the Health Bureau (SSM) about the city’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Photo: GCS
Anti-COVID-19 strategy ‘successful’
Meanwhile, Lo said that Macau’s overall anti-COVID-19 strategy has proved to be successful. Lo said that many of the 35 patients in the “second wave” did not show any COVID-19 symptoms when they were diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease. Lo said that some of these patients were possibly still in the incubation period when they were diagnosed with the disease, while some of them were possibly asymptomatic carriers of the disease, and that’s why the local government not only monitors the possible changes in the symptoms of those undergoing quarantine but also carries out two COVID-19 tests on each of them during the 14-day quarantine period – one test shortly after the beginning of the period and the other shortly before the end of the period.Lo pointed out that a number of COVID-19 cases in the “second wave” were only detected when the patients tested positive for the novel coronavirus shortly before the end of their respective quarantine periods.
Lo said that Macau had been facing a high risk after the “second wave” emerged but the 35 cases have not led to a community outbreak, which showed that Macau’s overall strategy against the COVID-19 threat has been successful.
3 measures for air passengers to Macau
Meanwhile, SSM Control of Communicable Diseases and Surveillance of Diseases Department Coordinator Leong Iek Hou said that the local government has ordered airlines to ensure the implementation of three measures on passengers who are about to board their flight to Macau, after considering that the COVID-19 epidemic overseas is still escalating.
Firstly, airlines must ensure that the passengers meet Macau’s current entry measures in response to the COVID-19 threat, namely by not allowing foreign nationals to board the flight as they are currently barred from entering Macau, according to Leong.
Foreign visitors have been barred from entering Macau since March 18, and the entry ban was extended to cover all foreign nationals – including foreign non-resident workers –the following day.
Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan residents who have been to a foreign country within 14 days before their intended arrival here have been barred from entering Macau since March 25.
Macau residents who have been to a foreign country, Hong Kong or Taiwan within 14 days prior to their return to Macau must go into 14 days of quarantine and medical observation at a designated hotel.
Secondly, Leong said, airlines must request visitors to show a certificate confirming that they have tested negative for COVID-19 within seven days prior to their intended flight to Macau. Otherwise they are not allowed to board the flight.
Thirdly, passengers must have their temperature checked before boarding the flight, and those with a fever are not allowed to get on the aeroplane, Leong said.
Leong said that the three measures aimed to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection of crew members and prevent the novel coronavirus from entering Macau.
Meanwhile, Lo said during yesterday’s press conference that local residents travelling to Zhuhai to receive medical treatment are facing a lower risk than those travelling to Hong Kong for medical treatment. Lo said that Zhuhai has not confirmed a new local COVID-19 case for a very long time, while nearly one third of new cases which have been confirmed in Hong Kong recently are local cases.
