The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Macau rose to 36 by the time of a Monday afternoon briefing, up from 31 confirmed overnight, in the city’s first outbreak since October.
The updated figure was given by Health Bureau official Alvis Lo Iek Long, at a press conference of the city’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre.
According to other data on Monday, from the city’s Public Security Police force, there was a 53.6 percent fall from Saturday to Sunday in the volume of tourist movements, meaning Sunday’s tally was about 20,400.
Since Sunday morning, visitors from neighbouring Guangdong province must hold a Covid-19 test certificate issued within 24 hours.
Brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd said in a Monday note that it was reducing its estimate on June’s Macau casino gross gaming revenue (GGR), to only 9 percent of that for the pre-pandemic trading period of June 2019.
That would mean an average daily rate of GGR for June that would be down 31 percent from what was achieved in May this year. “It could still be lower depending on travel restrictions and measures,” said Sanford Bernstein analysts Vitaly Umansky, Louis Li, and Shirley Yang.
The Health Bureau’s Mr Lo said during Monday’s afternoon’s briefing that 26 of the 36 people confirmed infected were so far without symptoms.
The official did not clarify whether any of the new cases were found as a result of the 48-hour citywide testing that started at noon on Sunday. As of 4pm on Monday, a total of 459,687 people had been tested, with 269,628 of those already generating a ‘negative’ result.
As of 3.30pm on Monday, Macau had eight ‘red’ lockdown zones – indicating either the workplace or residence of confirmed cases – and five ‘yellow’ zones, indicating precautionary measures were needed.
Seven of the red zones are on Macau peninsula, and one is at Flower City, Taipa.
People in the red zones also see their Macau digital health code changed to a warning ‘red’. They must stay where they are, and can only collect daily supplies from a designated point nearby.
They are also to be subject to on-site Covid-19 tests on the first, second, third, fifth, and seventh day of their confinement.
