Addressing yesterday’s weekly press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus situation, Alvis Lo Iek Long, a clinical director of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, said that the Macau government is urging local residents to spend the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday in Macau and avoid “unnecessary travel” outside Macau, as the city continues to be subject to an external COVID-19 risk, with the aim of protecting the city from the highly infectious disease that has killed nearly two million people worldwide since early last year.

According to Lo, the local government also urges non-resident workers from the mainland employed in Macau not to return to their hometowns for the traditional CNY holiday.

This year’s Chinese New Year falls on February 12.

Lo underlined that the Macau government aims to ensure that the city will never have a COVID-19 community transmission by sticking to its strict COVID-19 prevention and control measures, before COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be available in Macau later this quarter for the population to get jabs.

Lo underlined that the local government’s travel advice for residents and non-resident workers “is not a compulsory measure”. Lo also said that the travel advice does not suggest that there will be a serious COVID-19 situation in Macau, and instead the government aims to “prepare for a rainy day” – preventing a COVID-19 epidemic in the city – by recommending the avoidance of unnecessary travel during the CNY holiday.

During the press conference, Lo referred to a statement released by the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) earlier yesterday, which said that in line with the National Health Commission’s (NHC) suggestions and the Macau government’s COVID-19 prevention work, the bureau is urging mainland non-resident workers employed in Macau to avoid returning to their hometowns for their CNY holiday, so as to “reduce people movement and the gathering of crowds”.

The statement said that DSAL officials yesterday held a meeting with representatives from the Macau Chamber of Commerce (ACM) and from the China Capital Employment Agencies Association (Macau), which represents agencies hiring workers from the mainland, asking the two associations to urge local employers to “encourage” their non-resident workers from the mainland to avoid returning to their hometowns for their CNY holiday. The statement said that the bureau also held a meeting with four other trade associations later the same day about the issue.

Lo said that the Macau government is aware that the National Health Commission (NHC) has called on people in the mainland not to return to their hometowns for their CNY holiday but stay where they live and work during the period so as to reduce flow of personnel as much as possible.

Lo said that “after an assessment”, the Macau government is also urging local residents to avoid unnecessary travel outside Macau by staying in the city for their CNY holiday.

Lo’s remarks came after reports of domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases in a number of cities in the mainland over recent weeks, such as Beijing as well as Dalian and Shenyang in Liaoning province, and Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, particularly the situation in which the COVID-19 epidemic in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei, has become serious, resulting in a de facto lockdown.

Lo said that the Macau government has noticed that “certain risk factors have now appeared in different places” in the mainland.

Lo also said that the Macau government has noticed that the NHC as well as the health authorities in different mainland provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have announced similar suggestions according to which people should stay where they live and work during the CNY holiday period. “That’s why Macau now gives similar travel advice [for residents and non-resident workers] correspondingly,” Lo said.

‘Hard-won’ achievement

Lo said that Macau has managed to maintain its “hard-won” achievement of bringing COVID-19 under control for a long time, adding that the government “hopes” to ensure that Macau will continue being free from COVID-19.

“Before the COVID-19 vaccination which will start later in the current quarter, we hope to minimise any risk factors that can be avoided,” Lo said.

Lo underlined that Macau’s “hard-won” achievement in its COVID-19 prevention comes from the joint effort by the local government and population, urging residents to continue adhering to COVID-19 prevention measures.

Lo said that different cities in the mainland have reported domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases “sporadically” over recent weeks possibly due to the cold weather. Lo also pointed out that a large number of non-resident workers from the mainland are employed in Macau.

Lo underlined that the Macau government’s travel advice for residents and non-resident workers aims to minimise the local COVID-19 risk.

“We understand that non-resident workers from the mainland want to return to their hometowns for Chinese New Year during a long holiday period,” Lo said.

“Regardless of being Macau residents or non-resident workers, would some of them visit places [in the mainland] where COVID-19 cases have been reported and then bring the [novel coronavirus] disease back to Macau?”, Lo asked rhetorically, saying that “this is possible”.

Macau has not recorded a new COVID-19 case for 199 days, while no local case has been confirmed in 288 days.

Macau’s COVID-19 tally stands at 46 with zero fatalities.

As of yesterday, the global COVID-19 tally stood at 90.86 million while the world’s novel coronavirus death toll amounted to 1.946 million, according to worldometers.info. 

Alvis Lo Iek Long, one of the three clinical directors of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, addresses yesterday’s press conference about the city’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. 

Photo: Tony Wong