The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced tonight the city’s 36th and 37th novel coronavirus cases, both classified as imported.
The 36th case is a 21-year-old male Macau resident who departed from Portugal on March 13, taking Emirates flight EK194 (seat 40A) from Lisbon to Dubai. He then transferred onto Emirates flight EK380 (seat 46D) from Dubai to Hong Kong.
He arrived in Macau on the morning of March 15 and was arranged for home quarantine and medical observation according to the policy at that time.
He was sent March 16 to the Centro Clínico de Saúde Pública as he was listed as a close contact. His nasopharyngeal swabs tested negative on March 18 and 20. After that, he continued home quarantine and medical observation.
Saliva was collected for nucleic acid testing on March 27, with results coming back positive. On March 28, his nasopharyngeal swab test also came back positive, confirming that he had the novel coronavirus.
The 37th case is a 32-year-old male Macau resident with Portuguese nationality and is the fiancé of the 11th case. Both had visited relatives in Portugal, flying from Porto, Portugal, to Hong Kong via Dubai on March 12. They arrived in Macau in the early morning of March 14 via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.
Since he was listed as a close contact, medical observations were performed at the Conde de S. Januário Hospital Centre from March 16 onward. Two nasopharyngeal swab tests came back negative on March 16 and 18. A second test today showed that the results of the nasopharyngeal swab sample were positive for the novel coronavirus.
The two patients are in normal conditions and have been admitted to the isolation ward of Conde de S. Januário Hospital Centre.
Macau’s 37 confirmed COVID-19 cases includes 10 patients – seven tourists from Wuhan and three locals – who have been discharged from hospital. The other 27 cases, all of them imported, have been confirmed since March 15.
Macau’s first novel coronavirus case was registered on January 22.
PHOTO © University of Southern California News
