Filipino passport holders as well as condominium management workers have been removed from the list of key groups that need to undergo daily nucleic acid tests (NAT), the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre informed yesterday at the daily press briefing on Covid-19 in Macau.
The local coordinator of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Leong Iek Hou, justified the decision with the NAT results of the last few days as well as the epidemiological investigation conducted by the health authorities.
“After the last couple of days, we have decided to adjust the testing of key groups and so workers from the condominium management as well as all Filipino passport holders will stop being part of the target groups of daily NAT from July 25. Still, I want to remark that those who need to work still need to do a NAT every two days,” Leong said, noting that the orders regarding the other key groups remain unchanged.
The same official also reminded the population that those who do not need to perform a NAT between July 22 and 29 must continue to upload a daily result of a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) to the platform. This measure also applies to those who have been exempted from the mass testing such as children below the age of three years old, those over 80 years old, and those with a high degree of immobility who need support from caretakers.
Leong also urged business owners to strictly comply with the guidelines regarding the resumption of work activities, including deep cleaning workspaces and disinfecting common areas such as toilets. This process should be also repeated every time a shift ends and before a new working shift begins.
Zero community cases reported for Saturday
Providing an update on the number of new cases detected in the community, Leong said that during the 24 hours of last Saturday, there were no new positive cases detected in the community, with the five cases previously detected all being from people in the red zone of confinement or medical observation hotels. The five new cases reported raise the tally to 1,810.
According to the same official, there is at least one new case found on Sunday as a result of the 13th round of citywide mass testing that ended on Saturday evening. Leong said that two 10-in-1 mixed samples have tested positive, from which one case was already confirmed on Sunday. The second group is likely to be related to the relapse of a person who arrived from abroad, who might have already had some viral levels in their system which potentially contaminated the sample.
