Macau authorities today announced another round of nucleic acid tests on the population, after the Chinese region detected more than a dozen new cases of covid-19 in the last six days.
“We are going to carry out, starting tomorrow [Tuesday], a mass test. We will try to finish testing the entire population between seven in the morning and midnight” (between 23:00 today and 16:00 on Tuesday in Lisbon), said the director of Macau Health Services ( SSM).
In a press conference, Alvis Lo Iek Long explained that the objective is to finish the test before the approach of the severe tropical cyclone Nalgae, which is expected to reach the closest point to the city on Wednesday.
The Meteorological and Geophysical Services (SMG) of Macau has already issued a tropical storm warning signal 1 and said that there is a “moderate” probability of signal 8 being hoisted on Wednesday night.
The SSM indicated that the authorities in Zhuhai detected a positive case of covid-19 in a 58-year-old man, already vaccinated with three doses, who works in Macau and lives in the neighboring city.
“We don’t know very well the route, the source or the connection to the previous cases. It may have a hidden transmission line, which increases the risk of transmission,” said Alvis Lo.
The population of Macau, estimated at 677,300 people, must carry out a rapid antigen test before going to the testing posts on Tuesday, and must also wear a KN95 protective mask, said the official.
Only those who have already taken a nucleic acid test today will be exempt from Tuesday’s testing round, added the SSM director.
“We will observe the results of the tests to see if a second or third round of tests will be necessary”, underlined Alvis Lo.
The New Type of Coronavirus Contingency Center had already announced on Sunday that the entire population of Macau should undergo a rapid test for covid-19, for three consecutive days, to try to “find hidden cases in the community”.
With the exception of the secondary school in Ilha Verde, in the north of Macau, where the children of a woman who tested positive study, the other educational institutions will remain open, said Alvis Lo. “We will try to maintain the normal functioning of society,” he added.
On Wednesday, more than 38,000 people were forced to take a test for covid-19, after a positive case was detected in a 66-year-old resident, leading to the closure of a building and nearby streets.
Macau, which follows the zero-case policy imposed by Beijing, faced in June and July the worst outbreak of covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, with the authorities decreeing a partial confinement.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Chinese special administrative region has recorded six deaths and more than 2,500 cases, including asymptomatic ones, of covid-19.
