Macau authorities announced this Sunday three more rounds of nucleic acid tests on the population, with the territory experiencing the worst outbreak of Covid-19 and recording the first two deaths.
“Next week, we will conduct three rounds of nucleic acid testing on the entire population, [a primeira] on Mondays and Tuesdays, [a segunda] on Wednesdays and Thursdays, [a terceira] on Friday and Saturday. We expect a considerable increase in the number of cases,” said the director of Health Services, Alvis Lo, at the daily press conference of the Novel Coronavirus Contingency Coordination Center.
Each round will last 33 hours and will be carried out in 64 posts, the authorities having indicated that each nucleic acid test must be done with an interval of 24 hours, and before going to the test posts, the population must undergo a test. rapid test of antigen, which should be repeated the rest of the week, he added.
In the massive tests, the population will receive five rapid test kits and ten KN95 protective masks on two occasions.
The current outbreak of Covid-19 led the head of government, Ho Iat Seng, to decree a state of immediate prevention on June 19, bring forward the end of the school year and suspend, totally or partially, services and commerce.
On Saturday, Ho Iat Seng renewed the state of immediate prevention “with a view to guaranteeing the protection of the life and property of residents (…), within the scope of measures to prevent the transmission of the new type of coronavirus,” according to the order. .
Thus, public services will continue to function conditionally, and users must make an appointment for care.
Regarding private activity, the Government has requested, during this outbreak, that the measures applied in the public service be followed, which in general has been verified.
Casinos will remain open, but with reduced activity and staff.
When asked by journalists about the possibility of a tightening of prevention measures, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong, stated that she cannot rule out the possibility of “paralyzing all activities in society”, but stressed that it is not “that simple” to make that decision, because “that would cause panic”.
The Government announced a reinforcement of economic support measures for the population, including the unemployed, and for companies worth ten billion patacas (1.2 million euros), ranging from cash grants to tax exemptions and benefits .
On Saturday, Macau registered 90 more cases of the disease, for a total of 784 infections, since the start of this new wave of Covid-19.
Source: Observadora
