Health authorities clarify isolation criteria
Local health authorities have recently clarified the criteria that allow previously infected persons to leave isolation and return to the community, as well as the requirement for the re-isolation of those who are considered relapsing cases.
During the daily press briefing of the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center, the coordinator at the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Leong Iek Hou responded to several media inquiries on the subject. She explained that when the level of Cycle Threshold (CT), obtained during the nucleic acid test (NAT) sampling analysis, is 35 or above in two consecutive tests done over 24 hours apart, the former positive cases are considered recovered and can return to the community.
She also explained that when a person with a previous medical history of infection with Covid-19 is found in the community with a NAT with a CT of 32 or below, that person is considered a case of relapse from the previous infection. The patient is then required to undergo isolation in medical observation until the criteria of two consecutive NAT with CT over 35 is met.
The health official also explained that the same criteria apply to people tested locally as those arriving from abroad. Thus, the criteria of the CT levels also apply in the same manner to those returning or arriving to Macau from medium and high-risk areas.
Nonetheless, those found in the community during mass testing with CT levels above 32 and who have no previous record of infection with the virus can still be ordered to quarantine in a hotel facility and undergo a period of observation. This is a precautionary measure to ensure that they are not at a very early stage of infection, which could develop into a more infectious level in the following days.
Infection Rate also explained
Responding to a media inquiry, Leong also said that Macau uses the same standards to classify the infectious potential of an outbreak as other countries, which use an Infection Rate (RT) coefficient.
According to the official, at the end of last week the RT of the local outbreak was between 0.5 and 0.6. She explained that all values below 1 represent, in terms of epidemic modeling, that the “situation is controllable,” and that if the figure reduces, it means that the situation is being further controlled, and that the epidemic risk is reducing.
“If we have a new outbreak, for instance, this RT will grow immediately” Leong explained.
