The Government of Macao admitted this Friday the possibility of a third round of tests for the population, after the Covid-19 outbreak that brought forward the end of the school year and suspended services and businesses in whole or in part.
“It is very likely that we will carry out a new round of tests to achieve the zero cases policy,” said the director of the Macau Health Services, Alvis Lo, during the daily press conference on the situation of the Covid-19 in the territory. .
Macao decreed a state of immediate prevention on Sundayafter the worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic, in which 170 cases detected.
Covid-19: Macau expands isolation zones and closes public services
A general test for the population began on Thursday, which will last until 11:59 p.m. (4:59 p.m. in Lisbon), after earlier in the week some 677,000 people have gone to the 53 positions available for a first test.
In this second assessment, Lo said, “they were picked up until 3:00 p.m. [08h00 de Lisboa] 567,462 samples, or 84% of the target audience”.
Meanwhile, Macau residents were also asked to take an antigen test at home on Wednesday. To date, five rapid test kits have been delivered to the population.
Macao registers 65 new cases of Covid-19 and asks the population to test with home kits
As a result of the new outbreak, the local authorities have brought forward the end of the school year, in addition to declaring the suspension of activity in all leisure and restaurant spaces, allowing only the service of “put off“.
In Macau, public services, the activity of museums and social facilities that provide day services (nurseries, special care centers and community centers) and visits to nursing homes are also suspended.
Macau has defined confinement areas, having currently delimited five buildings in the city from which residents cannot leave.. Alongside these red zones, yellow zones were created in adjacent buildings, with less restrictive control measures.
Since the start of the pandemic, the territory has registered a total of 125 infections, zero deaths and 332 asymptomatic.
Like mainland China, the region follows a “zero cases” policy, in which asymptomatic people are not entered into official government accounts, even though they too are required to adhere to isolation measures.
Source: Observadora
