Covid-19 | New regulation requires doctors to report suspected cases

The Health Bureau (SSM) has implemented a new protocol, requiring all doctors, including private practitioners, to make a declaration on a dedicated website after dealing with patients with fever or respiratory symptoms and who are suspected of contracting Covid-19.
The new regulation, effective immediately since its announcement, is designed to detect any hidden cases as early as possible, Tai Wa Hou, coordinator of the Health Bureau’s Covid-19 Vaccination Operation, said yesterday.
The measure will see all doctors across Macau evaluate patients who display symptoms like fever, cough, fatigue, sore throat, reduced sense of smell or taste, diarrhea and other related symptoms. The doctors are required to instruct the patient to undergo or otherwise arrange for Covid-19 testing for the affected patients.
These patients will see their health code status change from green to yellow. Tai said he is not certain whether a yellow code would discourage residents from seeking medical treatment. But he emphasized that residents should declare their symptoms honestly, which will also result in the color of the health code changed to yellow anyway.
Tai added that doctors should arrange for testing of patients immediately if the clinics they work at have the capacity to do so. For those clinics that are unable to conduct immediate on-site testing, doctors must instruct the patients to take the test within 24 hours after the appointment.
The government will closely monitor whether patients with a yellow health code status after receiving medical services are tested within the required period. Their health code will remain yellow until they test negative.
Those who conducted the test within 24 hours before the medical appointment will be granted an exemption.
The government has divided the suspected cases into three categories: no epidemiological risk, slightly higher epidemiological risk, and high epidemiological risk.
For patients classified with presenting no epidemiological risks, their health code will be changed to yellow and they should conduct the test within one day on their own.
Those with a slightly higher epidemiological risk, including those with frontline facing occupations such as casino workers, restaurant staff and drivers, must conduct the test at one of designated testing centers as early as possible, without the need to make an appointment.
Patients who present a high epidemiological risk, such as those who work at isolated wards, or who have had contact with confirmed cases, must go to a designated venue to conduct the test. They will not be allowed to leave until they test negative.
While these new measures pose additional inconvenience to residents, Tai affirmed that they represent best practice to safeguard public health and provide reassurance to residents, especially taking into account the significant number of asymptomatic cases.
To ensure a smooth operation, the SSM hosted two explanatory seminars for private doctors on August 15 and 16.

Gov’t urged to fix health code glitches

Lawmaker Ella Lei urged the government to enhance the city’s online health code system and address intermittent glitches in the system. In a written query submitted to the government, she called on authorities to provide the public with an explanation of the cause of frequent technical errors in the system. On the first day of the previous three-day mass Covid-19 test, the system was out of service for several hours, which contributed to confusion and saw many disgruntled residents lining up at testing centers. In addition to this incident, the system also saw several malfunctions in previous months.In view of this, Lei pushed the government to enhance the system. She suggests the Macau government emulate the success of some mainland governments, which have set up a 5G health system at public transport stations to allow authorities to access each resident’s health information by scanning their identity cards.Lei stated that this technology could offer greater convenience for those who are not tech-savvy.