A temporary medical site installed next to an entrance to Kiang Wu Hospital
Kiang Wu Hospital will be a new Covid-19 test location starting next Monday, with reservations being taken from now, Dr Lo Iek Long from the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center officially announced yesterday.
Bookings shall be conducted on the platform run by the Center. The medical doctor explained that bookings made for next Monday or after shall come with the option of the Kiang Wu Hospital as part of the test locations.
Results of tests taken at the private hospital will appear on the user’s health code, meaning that the results are identical to those obtained from the government in terms of eligibility for border crossings and casino entry.
In the first phase, the private hospital has a test capacity of 1,000 per day. Specimens shall be collected by nasal-pharyngeal swab at the private medical facility.
After negotiations, Lo unveiled the private hospital has agreed to charge 120 patacas for each test, identical to government-operated or commissioned test locations.
Asked whether the government is subsidizing the private hospital’s operation as a test location, the medical doctor said, “the government is not offering any subsidy to the hospital in terms of the test.”
He disclosed that the University Hospital of the Macau University of Science and Technology has also filed an application to enlist as a test location.
For a private medical facility to be approved as a testing facility, several criteria should be met. “We do inspect the facilities’ environment, equipment and technical standards,” Lo disclosed. “But I’m not planning to disclose the technical standards here because they are too technical and don’t make much sense to the general public.”
He also disclosed that if a vaccine becomes available, certain groups of people should be prioritized, such as frontline medical staff.
“I expect in the early stage of vaccine availability, there won’t be enough supply for all,” the medical doctor foresaw. “Scientifically, frontline medical staff [are] prone to the risk. In addition, chronic patients and the elderly are also more [at-risk] than other groups.”
With regards to the opening of the new school year, although no official from the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau was present at the press briefing, Dr Leong Iek Hou from the Center tried to explain, in terms of epidemiology, that the new school year should be able to commence similarly to previous years.
For certain schools the summer holiday started slightly later than usual because they attempted to make up for the school suspension during the peak of Covid-19 outbreak in Macau. Schools were closed for nearly three months.
Before summer, schools were allowed to reopen as conditions stabilized in both Macau and on the mainland. Many students live on the mainland but go to school in Macau.
Given that schools reopened during May and June and the conditions in Macau are not much different from the conditions during those two months, Leong is confident that the new school year should be able to start as usual.
When questioned as to what date the new school year should start, the medical doctor noted she was not in the position to make that reply. Usually, the school year starts in early September.
The Health Bureau and the education regulator are in communication with regards to health measures encouraged as schools start the new school year.
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