The Macau government said on Tuesday that everyone in Macau must on Wednesday (June 22) test themselves for Covid-19 infection and upload the result to an official database. The news comes after a 48-hour round of citywide testing at public venues across the city, that began at noon on Sunday following the first local outbreak since October. Home test kits were given out when people went for their initial check, so that home testing could be done if necessary.
The latest news – given at an afternoon press conference of the city’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre – capped a day that saw the official infection tally rise to 49, with 34 of those people showing no symptoms at present.
Officials present at the briefing said there were currently no plans to impose a citywide lockdown.
In other developments, the city’s public broadcaster TDM reported that “between 500 and 700” people that were on site on Tuesday morning at Hotel Fortuna – a casino hotel on Macau peninsula, near to the old Lisboa Hotel – had been transferred to quarantine at accommodation designated for the purpose, at the Sheraton Macao Hotel at the Londoner Macao resort on Cotai. The number of quarantined people was later clarified by the authorities as 380: a mixture of guests that had been staying at Fortuna, and staff there.
TDM said the reason for the move was that a staff member at Fortuna had tested ‘positive’ for Covid-19. The government’s afternoon press conference gave an update that five people present at the Fortuna premises had tested ‘positive’.
Images from the broadcaster showed people in protective clothing present at the property.
Chinese-language newspaper Macao Daily News had earlier reported many of those moved to quarantine from Hotel Fortuna were non-resident workers normally commuting daily from Zhuhai, that had been staying at the hotel during the latest Macau outbreak.
There are now 12 ‘red’ Covid-19 zones in Macau – including the Fortuna premises – the government clarified on Tuesday.
People in the red zones see their Macau digital health code changed to a warning ‘red’. They must stay where they are, and cannot go outside to shop for daily supplies, but instead will have them delivered.
They are also to be subject to on-site Covid-19 tests on the first, second, third, fifth and seventh day of their confinement.
(Updated 8.33am, June 22)
