Health authority explains ‘imported connective cases’

People who are infected by an imported Covid-19 patient, in other words someone who contracted the infection abroad, are categorized as “imported connective cases”, the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explained yesterday in response to a media enquiry.
Leong Iek Hou, coordinator at the CDC, was asked to explain the concept, as within the past few days there were cases described as such in neighboring Guangdong Province. The mainland has seen more than 300 imported cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, even as efforts to suppress the spread of the virus had proved effective at home.
There is no indication as yet that local authorities plan to adopt the same terminology in Macau.
Also at yesterday’s press conference, Lo Iek Long, medical director of the Conde São Januário Hospital (CHCSJ), assured the public that there are 232 beds in negative pressure isolation wards across the city. Previously, the medical director has reported the number to be 180.
He explained that alterations have been made to existing wards to expand the number of such beds. The health authority has included the number of beds installed in qualifying wards, such as the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
In addition, the Public Health Clinical Center located on Coloane Hilltop, currently used for quarantine purposes, is also certified to handle Covid-19 patients when necessary. There are 120 beds at the clinical center.
Lo stressed that for confirmed cases, it makes no difference whether they stay in a single or shared ward, as long as the roommate is also a Covid-19 patient.
Although most of the newly-confirmed cases in the city were returnees from the U.K., Lei Chin Ion, director of the Health Bureau (SSM) disagrees with the comment that it reflects the intensity of the disease in the European country.
The phenomenon is merely a coincidence, said Lei. It may not be a reflection of the severity of the outbreak in the U.K., but instead because the European country is a popular university option for Macau residents, the official added.
Lei referred to statistics that showed the outbreak has been more intense in Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
Moreover, it is difficult, according to the health authority head, to determine whether these new cases were infected at the origin of their journey or during transportation, and the Macau health authority has not conducted epidemiological analyses to determine this.
Lei reiterated that there is an incubation period, making infection during transportation less likely. These cases were intercepted or tested positive within days of their arrival in Macau.
“If they have contracted the virus on their flights, there should be large-scale infections on these flights,” said Lei, but this was not found to be the case.
The CHCSJ medical director pointed out that such returnees are required to undergo a quarantine period of 14 days before they can move freely around. The two-week period is to ensure that even if the returnees fall ill, the chain of contagion will be cut off, as they will be unable to unknowingly infect other people.
During the two weeks of quarantine, at least two pathological tests will be conducted: once at the beginning and another nearing the end. Such measures are effective in detecting asymptomatic cases that may pose significant risks to the community.
As such, the medical director said enforcing stricter measures on students returning from the U.K. or Europe may not be very meaningful.