The lack of coronavirus cases in Macau in the past six days does not mean that the epidemic is controlled in the territory, said Lei Chin Ion, the Director of Health Services of Macau on Monday.
Lei, speaking at a press conference said that six days without new cases of the virus shows that the measures taken by the government were effective but it must be borne in mind that “the situation is still serious”.
“We still cannot go back to our normal life. We have to continue to stay at home most of the time, avoid crowds of people and take permanent hygiene measures, including wearing masks and washing hands,” he said.
Lei recalled the fact that cases in Hong Kong of neighbour residents who were in Macau were confirmed shows that coronavirus that has not been detected is still in the territory.
The director of the Health Services said it was still impossible to predict when the situation would return to normal in Macau because the coronavirus is still an unpredictable epidemic.
During the press conference, it was also made known that there were cases of visitors from Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Zhuhai and Hong Kong who were in Macau at the end of January and the first days of February whose coronavirus situation was only detected after they left the territory.
Health officials also said on Monday that they continue to make every effort to detect residents who have contracted the virus and who have not made contact with health authorities. In the last 24 hours alone, 111 tests were carried out on local residents, but no cases of coronavirus were detected.
Nine people confirmed with the coronavirus remain in hospital, but authorities believe that their recovery could allow them to be discharged in a short amount of time.
Police officials have revealed that the number of visitors crossing Macau’s borders continues to drop with 21,000 entries and an equal number of departures on Sunday, representing a drop from previous days.
Most of the people crossing the border between Macau and Zhuhai are Macau non-resident workers who live in the neighbouring Chinese municipality and are residents of Macau.
At the Macau International Airport, 69 arrivals (13 of Air Macau) and 66 departures (7 of Air Macau) were cancelled on Monday, especially for cities in Mainland China.
PHOTO © Macau News/António Sanmarful
