Health workers in Macao are dealing with a spate of new imported Covid-19 cases among arrivals from overseas.
The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced yesterday that the 27-year-old local woman who returned to Macao from the United Kingdom and whose asymptomatic case was announced on Monday has now been diagnosed with carrying the Omicron variant, which raised Macao’s Omicron tally to three.
The centre said that the case was still asymptomatic as the woman had still not come down with any Covid-19 symptoms – so it has not been added to the city’s novel coronavirus tally which remains at 79.
The 27-year-old woman received two Pfizer BioNTech mRNA jabs, in April and May. She tested negative for Covid-19 in a nucleic acid test (NAT) in the UK on Friday. She flew from London to Singapore on Sunday and caught a connecting flight to Macao the next day where she tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon arrival. Her condition has been classified as an imported case.
The Health Bureau’s (SSM) Public Health Laboratory carried out viral genome sequencing for the case, which confirmed that the woman was infected with the Omicron variant, the third case detected in Macao.
The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre also announced yesterday that two air passengers who have been classified as close contacts of the 27-year-old asymptomatic Covid-19 carrier tested positive for the novel coronavirus yesterday.
The centre classified the two cases as imported and asymptomatic, so they have not been added to Macao’s novel coronavirus tally.
According to the centre, the first close contact, a 32-year-old woman, a family member of the 27-year-old woman, returned to Macao from London via Singapore with the 27-year-old. The 32-year-old received two mRNA jabs, in June and July respectively.
The second close contact, a 47-year-old man, sat three rows in front of the 27-year-old woman on the Singapore-Macao flight on Monday.
The 47-year-old man received two inactivated Covid-19 jabs, in June and July. He tested negative for Covid-19 in a NAT in the United States on Friday. He flew from Los Angeles to Singapore the next day and caught a connecting flight to Macao on Monday.
However, both the 32-year-old woman and the 47-year-old man tested negative for the novel coronavirus upon arrival at the airport on Monday. As both had been classified as close contacts of the 27-year-old woman, they were transferred to the SSMs Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane that day for quarantine.
Both close contacts still tested negative for Covid-19 on Tuesday, before testing positive for the novel coronavirus yesterday, the centre said.
The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced late last night that a 60-year-old local resident returning from the Philippines tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday.
The case has also been classified as imported and asymptomatic, so it has not been added to Macao’s Covid-19 tally.
According to the centre, the woman received two BioNTech mRNA jabs, in March and April. She tested negative for Covid-19 in three NATs in the Philippines, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. She flew to Singapore on Tuesday and caught a connecting flight to Macao yesterday where she tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon arrival, The Macau Post Daily reported.
