Macao will stick to its zero-Covid policy as in mainland China, said Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long.
The city will continue to follow the same policy of zero Covid-19 cases implemented in mainland China even though questions about the policy’s sustainability have been raised in Hong Kong and Shanghai, Lo confirmed in TDM Radio’s Ou Mun Tin Toi Programme.
The head of World Health of Organization (WHO) has warned that China’s zero-Covid strategy is not sustainable. This comes in the wake of a recent study conducted by Shanghai’s Fudan University, published in the scientific journal Nature this week, showing that China risked unleashing a “tsunami” of coronavirus infections causing 1.6 million deaths between May and July if Covid-19 restrictions were eased.
“As we all know, the virus is evolving, changing its behaviours, becoming more transmissible. With that changing behaviour, changing your measures will be very important. When we talk about the zero-Covid strategy, we don’t think it’s sustainable,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
He added, “considering the behaviour of the virus, I think a shift [in China’s strategy] will be very important,” the Financial Times reported.
Responding to the WHO’s warning, Lo said Macao must follow all policies implemented by mainland China, adding, “After the epidemic outbreak in Hong Kong, the disease spread very quickly and this can lead to a situation where we cannot control the disease.”
He insisted the zero-Covid policy is the “most appropriate” for Macao’s current situation, stressing that the city will “maintain an identical [Covid-19] policy with mainland China.”
