12th round of government’s facemask distribution kicks off

The 12th round of the centralized facemask supply scheme initiated by the government has begun and will last until May 21. According to information previously presented by health authorities, this may be the scheme’s second-last round. The scheme began in late January, when the first Covid-19 case was detected in the city.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong U, has told the Legislative Assembly that the scheme will likely run until the end of May, adding that the government is debating the necessity of its continuation in the months that follow.
The health authority has reiterated its stance leading to the scheme’s possible termination. The authority said that the scheme was instigated to ensure supply of the crucial resource at the start of the outbreak, when few in the city were prepared and the mainland was off work because of the Lunar New Year holidays.
Given now both the outbreak and private mask supply have stabilized, the government thus started to prompt residents “to consider whether the centralized supply should run indefinitely,” Dr Alvis Lo Iek Long, medical director of the public Conde São Januário Hospital, has said.
As the scheme enters its 12th round, details have remained unchanged from the previous round. All Macau ID holders and legal non-resident workers are entitled to 10 masks for the price of 8 patacas. Points of sale include designated pharmacies and the offices of certain associations.
In addition, children’s masks are available for purchase with a different quantity from adult masks. For the same price, a child aged between 3 and 8 is entitled to collect five children’s masks and five adult masks, or 10 adult masks.
In the previous 11 rounds, a total of 65.7 million masks were sold by the scheme, with 6 million sold in the 11th round alone. AL