Mandatory quarantine now also for arrivals from Nanjing & Changde

Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long announced yesterday that from tomorrow air passengers from the entire mainland must present a nucleic acid test (NAT) certificate confirming that they have tested negative for COVID-19 within the past 48 hours when boarding a Macau-bound plane, a change from the current seven-day-validity requirement.

According to Lo, the Macau government has decided to tighten the validity of the negative NAT result for passengers of all flights from the mainland in response to the latest COVID-19 developments in the mainland. The measure will take effect at 00:00 tomorrow.

Lo made the announcement during yesterday’s press conference by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre, which from yesterday increased the number of its press conferences to five per week – from every Monday to Friday, a change from only one press conference per week on a Friday.

In addition, Macau government has imposed hotel quarantine on arrivals from Nanjing city, whose ongoing transmissions started early last week at its airport. The measure, which took effect at 7 p.m. yesterday, was announced by Lo during yesterday evening’s press conference. Under the measure, upon arrival in Macau those who have visited any area in Nanjing within the 14 days prior to their entry into Macau must undergo quarantine and medical observation at one of the government’s “quarantine hotels” for a period lasting up to 14 days after leaving Nanjing.

Previously, the measure only applied to certain areas in Nanjing.

Since last week, the Macau government had been adding more and more areas in Nanjing to its quarantine requirement list, until last night when it imposed mandatory quarantine on arrivals from the whole of Nanjing city.

In addition, Lo also announced yesterday that upon arrival in Macau those who had visited Changde city in Hunan province on July 17 or after must now also undergo hotel quarantine for a period of up to 14 days after leaving Changde. The measure also took effect at 7 p.m. yesterday.

Earlier this week the Macau government had already imposed hotel quarantine on arrivals from Zhangjiajie city in Hunan province. The measure, which was announced by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre in a statement on Wednesday, took effect at 00:00 yesterday. Under the measure, upon arrival in Macau those who had visited Zhangjiajie on July 17 or after must undergo hotel quarantine for a period lasting up to 14 days after leaving Zhangjiajie.

During yesterday’s press conference, Lo announced that even those who had already entered Macau before yesterday after visiting Zhangjiajie on July 17 or after are also required to undergo hotel quarantine, adding that the Health Bureau will therefore transfer them to one of the government’s “quarantine hotels”.

Health Bureau Control of Communicable Diseases and Surveillance of Diseases Department Coordinator Leong Iek Hou said during yesterday evening’s press conference that about 100 people in Macau had reported on their Macau Health Code that they had visited Zhangjiajie on July 17 or after, adding that the bureau has sent them an SMS telling them to report to the Taipa Ferry Terminal in Pac On from where the bureau will transfer them to one of the government’s “quarantine hotels”. Leong did not mention the deadline before they must report to the ferry terminal.

Meanwhile, Lo also announced that those who had visited Sichuan’s provincial capital of Chengdu, Liaoning’s provincial capital of Shenyang or Dalian city in the province on July 17 or after are required to practise “self-health management” for a period lasting up to 14 days after they had left any of the three cities. During their “self-health management” period, according Lo, they are required to undergo a number of free-of-charge nucleic acid tests (NATs) by making an appointment on https://app.ssm.gov.mo/mandatoryrnatestbook.

According to Lo, the “self-health management” measure also applies to those who have visited Nanjing within the past 14 days or had visited Hunan province’s Changde city on July 17 or after but had already entered Macau before 7 p.m. yesterday.

Macau has not recorded a new local COVID-19 case for 487 consecutive days.

Meanwhile, Macau’s total number of vaccinations had reached 501,061 at 4 p.m. yesterday, according to a statement by the centre yesterday evening.

‘Serious’ post-vaccination adverse event

Meanwhile, Tai Wa Hou, a clinical director of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, announced during yesterday’s press conference that a 17-year-old boy who received his second BioNTech mRNA jab on Monday has been diagnosed with myocarditis. The case, which has been classified as a serious post-vaccination adverse event, will be transferred to the Health Bureau’s special working group tasked with assessing serious adverse events after COVID-19 vaccinations.

According to Tai, the hospitalised boy’s condition was “stable” yesterday.

Tai noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has indicated the possible causal relationship between mRNA vaccinations and myocarditis.

Myocarditis is the inflammation of the heart muscle.

Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long addresses yesterday’s press conference about the city’s novel coronavirus situation. Photo: GCS