Covid-19 | Xinjiang, Liaoning added to medium-risk list

Shenyang, provincial capital of Liaoning Province

Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center has added the two Chinese provinces of Xinjiang and Liaoning to its list of medium-risk locations, following a recent rise in new Covid-19 cases there.
Official information shows that Xinjiang recorded 41 new cases on July 26 and 14 in Liaoning. All of the infections in Liaoning were locally-transmitted. In addition, Xinjiang recorded 38 asymptomatic cases.
Xinjiang is located in the northwest of the country and is home to many ethnic minority groups. Liaoning is a northeastern province that borders North Korea.
Extra health measures will be applied to people who have visited the two provinces in the preceding 14 days before entering Macau. However, they will not be quarantined, unlike those entrants who have traveled to Hong Kong in the 14 days prior to entering the MSAR.
People who have been to the two provinces in the preceding 14 days will have their digital health code changed to yellow, meaning that they are required to conduct stricter health supervision on themselves.
Extra measures will be in place at the border checkpoint to ensure their health. “When they arrive in Macau, our colleagues will conduct individual health assessment on them,” Dr Leong Iek Hou, coordinator at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, stated, adding that the inspections will include “observation for possible Covid-19 symptoms and survey their contacts in the provinces.”
The medical doctor added that if either people present symptoms or have had contact with people who have tested positive, they will be sent to the public Conde São Januário Hospital for a further check up.
They will also face stricter Covid-19 testing requirements. They must be in possession of nucleic acid test results from within the preceding 72 hours. If they miss that deadline, they will be sent to the public hospital for a test. “Only with a negative result can they be allowed to leave the hospital,” Leong explained.
Entrants who have been to either of the two provinces in the preceding 14 days will receive calls from the Coronavirus Center while in Macau to obtain updates on their health conditions.
“We will contact them every other day to inquire about their health condition,” Leong explained. Guidelines will also be distributed to this group of people to instruct them on 14-day self-observation.
For the time being, the Coronavirus Center does not expect many people from the two provinces to travel to Macau, “because they will be quarantined when they return home,” Leong explained. The authority said there are no tourists from the two provinces currently in Macau.
By contrast, entrants who have been to Hong Kong in the previous two weeks must not only present a negative test result upon arrival, they will also be quarantined for two weeks before they can move freely around the city.
Leong said that the measure is still in effect, but is subject to change should circumstances in the neighboring city improve.