A 37-year-old woman from Hong Kong is the 67th confirmed COVID-19 patient in Macau, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced this afternoon. 

The case was announced at a regular press conference by the centre about Macau's novel coronavirus pandemic situation. 

According to a statement by the centre, the woman arrived in Macau from Hong Kong on September 19, after visiting various countries in the Middle East and Europe, among them Dubai, Egypt, Croatia and Montenegro, for textile business negotiations between April 9 and July 10. She was inoculated against COVID-19 on March 11 and April 8 with the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, the statement pointed out. 

After entering Macau on September 19, she immediately started quarantine at Treasure Hotel near the local airport. A nucleic acid test (NAT) conducted last Tuesday was negative. However, tests on Sunday and today turned positive, but with a low virus load. Her antibodies did not indicate a recent COVID-19 infection, the statement said. 

Due to her Middle Eastern and European travel history earlier this year, her case has been classified as a relapse. 

The statement underlined that as the patient had never been diagnosed with the disease, the centre has classified the patient as a COVID-19 imported case. The statement noted that the patient has been transferred from the government-designated "quarantine hotel" to the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for follow-up isolation treatment. According to the statement, she showed no COVID-19 symptoms today. 

Macau has confirmed four new COVID-19 cases since Friday - a local resident of Turkish nationality, who had arrived her from Turkey via Singapore last week, and two Nepali security guards who worked at the Golden Crown China Hotel where the Turkish citizen was in quarantine until his transfer to the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane. 

The Treasure Hotel and Golden Crown China Hotels have been designated by the government as medical observation quarantine hotels. The two buildings in front of the Macau International Airport are connected. 

Following the confirmation of the first three of the four new cases the government launched Macau's second round of mandatory COVID-19 tests for all people in the city - residents, non-resident workers, non-local students and other people currently in Macau. The 72-hour NAT drive ends at 3 p.m. tomorrow. Those who fail to be tested are barred from leaving Macau and prohibited from taking public transport (buses and taxies) and entering a wide range of premises such as public administration buildings. 

Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 case on January 22 last year. No novel coronavirus fatalities have been reported in Macau. Foreign nationals without the right of abode here have been barred from entering Macau since March last year. Exceptions to the rule have rarely been granted by the government.