An estimated 30,000 residents will be required to take another nucleic acid test (NAT) either tomorrow or on Wednesday after health officials spotlighted two areas deemed to be a high Covid-19 risk.
At the daily Covid-19 briefing, Leong Iek Hou, head of the Health Bureau’s Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Division, warned that everyone who lived, worked or had spent more than 30 minutes in Jardim da Areia Preta, or the area from Estrada Marginal do Hipódromo to Avenida de Venceslau de Morais on or after 22 July – around 30,000 people – would need to take NATs.
“We will continue to conduct NATs and encourage rapid antigen tests in the future because it’s the only way to control the pandemic,” said Leong, who admitted that health authorities are still looking for the patient zero.
“The most important thing is to put an end to the chain of transmission of the virus.
“Although we have had two days without any positive case in the community, it’s still too early to say that we have reached our objective to put an end to the pandemic.
“We are still in a consolidation period and the situation cannot be considered finished.”
To date, Macao has recorded 1,814 positive cases, balanced roughly between male and female; only 701 cases are symptomatic. Ninety-nine patients were released from hospital today, bringing the total to 987. One new cluster of three people was identified at Edificio Hong Tai; just under 2,000 people are confined to hotel for medical observation.
