Gov’t: No plans to change quarantine period or border-crossing NAT validity

The government has no plans to change SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test (NAT) requirements or quarantine durations for entrants to Macau, local health officials said yesterday.

At yesterday’s weekly health press briefing, public health doctor Leong Iek Hou, division head for infectious disease prevention and control at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was asked why the quarantine duration for entrants from Hong Kong remains at two weeks, even when the number of cases there reaches new heights each day.

Leong said that the government is constantly evaluating the risks posed by each place, and in people travelling to Macau from these places.

“Quarantine durations are adjusted or [not adjusted] as per the results of our evaluations,” Leong said.

She added that arrivals from Hong Kong need to monitor their own health conditions for seven days following the end of their quarantine. During their third week in Macau, they will have a yellow health code and be unable to enter a number of venues, such as government offices.

“Four NATs will be conducted during the third week, namely on the first, second, fourth and seventh days of the week,” Leong stressed. “This is to strike a balance between their quarantine duration and early intervention if they get infected.”

When asked about the possibility of shortening quarantine durations for entrants from outside the Greater China region, Leong reiterated the position of “constant evaluation.”

Responding to questions on NAT validity for entrants from mainland China, Leong remarked that there are scattered cases in various places across the country, and as close to Macau as Guangdong province.

“The risks to Macau are actually on the rise,” she said. “Therefore, for the time being, we have no plans to change the validity period of NATs for border crossing.”

Work to trace the source of infection for the recent Tanzhou patient, who contracted the Omicron variant, has been undertaken by governments in Macau, Zhuhai and Zhongshan, Leong said.

However, the work has yielded no useful results. “We hope this is only an isolated incident,” Leong said.

Nucleic acid tests have been conducted on specific groups of people, with no positive results detected. Some people have missed tests, Leong disclosed, as they are or were not in Macau.

At yesterday’s briefing, Luís Gomes, acting department head for non-tertiary education at the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ), discussed children’s vaccination and vaccination of the elderly extensively.

Gomes announced that his bureau is collaborating with the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) to jab the elderly. The DSEDJ, he said, encourages older Macau residents to get vaccinated.

Students will be given extra encouragement in class to convince the elderly in their households to get vaccinated. Vaccinated students will also be taught to use themselves as examples to encourage elders to get their shot.

Youth volunteers, meanwhile, will host outreach booths this weekend across the city to promote immediate vaccination to senior citizens. “Correct information will also be distributed to elders,” Gomes said. These volunteers will also be deployed to vaccination stations to assist seniors with the process.

16,000 students aged three to 11 years have received a Covid-19 vaccine, which is 12,000 more than in February, when the DSEDJ initiated an incentive campaign for children’s vaccination, Gomes said.

He added that government will continue to send outreach teams to jab students on campus. Additionally, the DSEDJ will organize school excursions for students to attend vaccination stations.

Child-specific vaccination slots have been arranged at the Macau Forum vaccination station, with 1,500 children getting jabbed at that venue last weekend. The arrangement will continue this weekend.

Leong confirmed that child-specific doses of mRNA vaccine should be expected in the second quarter of this year.