It is likely that Macau will shortly have a third round of citywide centre-based Covid-19 testing in little more than a week, after the results so far of a second mass test – that was due to finish at midnight on Friday – indicated there was still some transmission of infection occurring in the community.
The information was given on Friday at the press conference of the city’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre.
As of 5pm, there were 170 confirmed cases – 129 of those being people with no symptoms – up from a total of 149 cases on Friday morning.
As of Friday afternoon, Macau had six clusters of infection identified, one more than on Thursday.
Up to 3pm on Friday, 567,462 samples had been taken in the ongoing mass test, with 353,945 already confirmed as ‘negative’ for infection.
The Macau government had reiterated in a Thursday press release that it is being advised in its infection control strategy by Zhong Nanshan, head of the Covid-19 task force of China’s National Health Commission.
The Macau authorities mentioned on Friday they were pursuing a policy of “social zero Covid”; i.e., ensuring there was not transmission within the general community.
There was as of Friday, a total of 13 so-called ‘red’ zones in Macau: buildings or developments where the occupants were required to stay put, with daily supplies brought in for them.
There were a further 10 ‘yellow’ zones, with precautionary measures applied to the inhabitants, due to risk of prior exposure to Covid-19.
From 5pm on Thursday, the Macau government ordered the suspension of most leisure facilities in the city, but allowed casinos to continue operating.
Regarding positive cases of Covid-19 among casino workers, the city’s health authorities said that – after an epidemiological investigation – it was established that the itineraries of the workers concerned were not related to the casinos where they work: some of the people were on leave from their employment. As such, there was no need to close any of the city’s casinos, the statement added.
