Addressing Wednesday’s press conference about Macao’s novel coronavirus situation, the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Control of Communicable Diseases and Surveillance of Diseases Department Coordinator Leong Iek Hou announced that from today all Macao residents can also choose to undergo their nucleic acid tests (NAT) at the Macau Forum testing station in Zape under the government’s NAT scheme, in addition to undergoing the tests at the programme’s main testing station in the Taipa Ferry Terminal in Pac On.
Leong underlined that those undergoing their nucleic acid tests at the Macau Forum testing station – which is temporarily being operated by the Health Bureau – will have their sample collected only via a nasopharyngeal swab. Leong said that those who want to have their sample collected via an oropharyngeal swab will have to undergo the tests at the Pac On testing station – which has been operated by a third-party testing institution, Kuok Kim (Macau) Hygiene Examination Company Limited.
Leong also said that nasopharyngeal sampling will also be available at the Pac On testing station in the near future, after the third-party testing institution has completed purchasing the relevant tools and equipment for nasopharyngeal sampling. She did not say when nasopharyngeal sampling will be available there.
Since the beginning the Health Bureau has been collecting samples from those undergoing their nucleic acid tests via nasopharyngeal swabs, including the Covid-19 testing at the Macau Forum testing station, which came into operation on 21 July.
The Macao government launched its NAT scheme on 7 May when its first and main testing station at the Taipa Ferry Terminal in Pac On started operating. The Health Bureau has commissioned Kuok Kim to carry out Covid-19 testing there, where only oropharyngeal sampling has been available.
After a nine-month-old female baby swallowed the three-centimetre-long tip of the swab on Monday when she was having her sample collected for a Covid-19 test via an oropharyngeal swab at the Pac On testing station, the government has required those aged below 18 can only have their samples collected under its NAT scheme via nasopharyngeal swabs – meaning that they can only undergo the tests at the Macau Forum testing station.
Leong said on Wednesday that today’s new measure means that for the situation in which parents and their children undergo their nucleic acid tests at around the same time, they can now undergo the tests together at the Macau Forum testing station so that the parents will not have to visit both the Macau Forum testing station and the Pac On testing station. Leong underlined that for the time being adults who only want to have their sample collected via an oropharyngeal swab still need to go to the Pac On testing station.
Leong pointed out that before today’s new measure, only senior citizens aged at least 65, minors aged below 18, people with disabilities, and those suffering from “special diseases” (namely infectious diseases, drug addiction, tumours and psychiatric diseases) could choose to undergo their nucleic acid tests at the Macau Forum testing station when making an appointment online. Now all Macao residents can also choose to undergo the tests at the Macau Forum testing station.
The female baby incident came after a seven-year-old boy accidentally bit off the swab and swallowed its tip on July 21 when he was having his sample collected for a Covid-19 test via an oropharyngeal swab at the Pac On testing station.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
