Alvis Lo Iek Long, a clinical director of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, said during Monday’s press conference that the Health Bureau has removed the payment counter at its nucleic acid test (NAT) programme’s main testing station in the Taipa Ferry Terminal in Pac On, which was set up in early May, considering that most of those undergoing their nucleic acid tests now choose to pay the testing fee of MOP 180 online when making an appointment online for the tests.
According to Lo, the Health Bureau has not set up a payment counter at the new testing station in the Macau Forum complex in Zape, which went into operation last week.
Lo pointed out that those who have made an appointment for a nucleic acid test but cannot pay online can choose to pay the fee at the bureau’s health centres, health stations and the public hospital before or after they have had their sample collected at either of the two testing stations.
Lo underlined that the cancellation of the payment counter at the Pac On testing station aims to prevent crowds there so as to reduce the COVID-19 risk. Lo also said that the fact that a resident has still not paid the testing fee after they have had their sample collected will not delay the time when their negative test results are displayed on their Macao Health Code, adding that this would only prevent them from making an appointment for a nucleic acid test next time.
Meanwhile, Lei Tak Fai, who heads the Public Relations Division of the Public Security Police (PSP), said during Monday’s press conference that 3,600 and 4,000 visitors entered and left Macao on Sunday respectively.
According to Lo, Macao has not recorded a new COVID-19 case for 31 days, while no local case has been confirmed for 120 days. All 46 novel coronavirus disease patients have been discharged from the hospital. A total of 44 of the cases have been classified by the Health Bureau as imported, while two cases have been classified as “connected to imported cases”.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
