Local health authorities have prepared contingency plans for a potential outbreak of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in Macau, Dr. Leong Iek Hou, coordinator at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said yesterday.
According to the official, the situation currently remains calm and under control.
“We have 276 isolation beds from different levels of care. If necessary, we will organize our staff and put our contingency plans into force,” Leong said. “For the time being, we only have eight asymptomatic patients [using some of the isolation facilities] in the Public Health Clinical Center in Coloane. But we have a preliminary project ready to come into force in case of an outbreak,” she added.
The same official also noted that at the time of the press briefing from the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center, no results from the nucleic acid tests (NAT) taken by the first batch of local students who returned from Hong Kong were known.
The students, as well as others returning from the neighboring region, will have to wait for the results at the Hong-Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Port. From there they will be taken either to hotel quarantine facilities or, if the NAT results return positive, to the Health Bureau’s isolation facilities.
Reduce overseas shopping
Leong said that to prevent a potential outbreak of the Omicron variant in Macau, local people should refrain from buying products online from outside Macau.
She said that acquiring goods from affected areas poses a risk, as the parcels have a short travel period in which the virus can survive and be active.
“We are demanding that logistics companies implement some disinfection measures, but the best way is to reduce shopping from abroad. People should also pay attention when reading newspapers and magazines from Hong Kong – after reading them, they should wash their hands well,” Leong said. Leong also advised people to wear surgical masks and gloves when handling parcels and letters in the mail.
