Addressing yesterday’s weekly press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus situation, Alvis Lo Iek Long, a clinical director of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, announced that the government will lower its testing fee of 120 patacas to 100 patacas for its nucleic acid testing (NAT) scheme, which comprises four stations, from Thursday.
The four testing stations run under the government’s NAT scheme are located at the Taipa Ferry Terminal in Pac On, the Macau Forum complex in Zape, the private Kiang Wu Hospital, and the University Hospital run by the private Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST).
The Health Bureau (SSM) has commissioned a third-party testing institution – Kuok Kim (Macau) Hygiene Examination Company Limited – to carry out COVID-19 testing under its NAT scheme, which was launched in May, at two testing stations – the main one at the Pac On ferry terminal and the other one at the Macau Forum complex. Kiang Wu Hospital, which is located on the peninsula, and the University Hospital, which is located on the MUST campus in Taipa, joined the government’s NAT scheme in August and September respectively.
The testing fee was 180 patacas when the NAT programme was launched in May, before it was lowered to 120 patacas in August.
Lo said yesterday that the NAT fee will be further reduced after the government’s discussions with Kuok Kim, Kiang Wu Hospital and the University Hospital.
Lo said that a lower NAT fee will meet local residents’ expectations. “The lower the fee, the more beneficial to residents,” Lo said, adding that that’s why the government has been constantly negotiating the price with the testing institutions under its NAT scheme for an even lower testing fee.
Lo said that the testing fee under its NAT scheme could be further lowered thanks to a gradual increase in the number of tests carried out per day since the launch of the scheme, and a constant decrease in the price of testing tools and test reagents purchased by the local government from suppliers.
Local NAT fee close to the mainland’s
Lo also pointed out that the new testing fee of 100 patacas under Macau’s NAT programme, which will start on Thursday, will be very close to the mainland’s current fee of 75 yuan, which is equivalent to about 90 patacas.
According to Lo, for those who have made an appointment to undergo their nucleic acid tests on or after Thursday and had already paid the current testing fee of 120 patacas on the NAT scheme’s online appointment system, the 20-pataca difference will be automatically refunded to the user’s payment account. Those who have paid the fee of 120 patacas in cash at the bureau’s health centres, health stations and the public hospital can apply for the refund at the public hospital, Lo said.
Macau residents and non-resident workers (informally known as blue card holders) are exempted from the testing fee when undergoing their first COVID-19 test at the Pac On testing station and the Macau Forum testing station, while they do not enjoy the first-test fee waiver when undergoing the nucleic acid test at Kiang Wu Hospital and the University Hospital, as the two hospitals have applied to provide COVID-19 testing service under the government’s NAT scheme which is not a service outsourced by the government, unlike Kuok Kim which has been commissioned by the government to carry out COVID-19 testing under its NAT scheme.
Macau has not recorded a new COVID-19 case for 129 days, while no local case has been confirmed in 218 days.
37 racers & team members under quarantine for MGP
Meanwhile, Lo also said that according to information provided by the Sports Bureau (ID), 37 racers and their team members competing in this year’s Macau Grand Prix (MGP) have so far been covered by the Macau government’s 14-day quarantine requirement. Quoting the ID information, Lo said that four of them have already completed their 14-day quarantine in Macau, 10 are still undergoing the quarantine here, 12 are undergoing the 14-day quarantine in the mainland before entering Macau, and 11 arrived Macau yesterday or will arrive here today to start their quarantine.
Lo said that those undergoing the quarantine in the mainland are Hong Kong racers and their team members.
Lo pointed out that the racers and team members will have to undergo two nucleic acid tests during their 14-day quarantine period.
The Sports Bureau admitted last month that there would be “almost no” foreign racers competing in this year’s Macau Grand Prix, which is slated to be held on November 19-22, adding that therefore most of the racers are locals and from Hong Kong and Guangdong cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). The bureau also said last month that it aimed to make an announcement early this month on its final arrangements for the annual motor-racing event.
Meanwhile, the Sports Bureau informed local media outlets yesterday that it has cancelled a MGP press conference, which was initially slated to be held today. The bureau said that it will reschedule the press conference later which will also include information on a MGP-related tourism promotion campaign. The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) told public broadcaster TDM yesterday that its senior officials will attend the rescheduled press conference.
Meanwhile, the local government’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement on Sunday that with effect from noon yesterday all arrivals who have been in Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region within the 14 days prior to their entry into Macau must undergo 14 days of quarantine and medical observation at one of the government’s “quarantine hotels”, due to the latest COVID-19 epidemic situation there.
The Macau government imposed its 14-day quarantine for arrivals from Kashgar prefecture in the north-western autonomous region last week, which is still in force.
Alvis Lo Iek Long, one of the three clinical directors of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, addresses yesterday’s press conference about the city’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Photo: GCS
