Quarantine free for people under SSM observation

Those required by the  Health Bureau (SSM) to undergo quarantine will not need to pay their fees, regardless of their nationalities, Lau Fong Chi, department head for the communications and external affairs of the Macao Government Tourism Office, confirmed.

This quarantine fee waiver does not apply to those undergoing quarantine-upon-arrival now or in the future.

The announcement was made, according to the tourism official, following earlier enquiries made by those currently under quarantine amid this current phase of serial infections.

“We are aware of enquiries made from the quarantined [persons] at facilities accommodating asymptomatic cases,” Lau revealed. “In line with the practice in previous years on similar matters, those quarantined as requested by SSM will see their fees waived.”

The tourism official added that her bureau would follow a list of quarantined guests issued by the SSM to offer fee waivers. Local residents, non-local workers and tourists will enjoy the waiver as long as they are quarantined on the request of the SSM.

However, if they make additional orders or spend during their stays, the government will not pay for this part of the bill, meaning that the quarantined will need to pay the extra sums by themselves.

Meanwhile, in response to a question on how much non-local workers will need to pay if they test positive and are hospitalized, Leong highlighted that, pursuant to the law, the director of the SSM has the discretion to issue a waiver on concerned patients.

According to a guideline posted on the SSM’s website, in normal scenarios, local residents have to pay 70% of their in-patient bills if they are admitted to the public hospital. Non-local workers will pay 100% of their bills, while visitors to Macau will pay 200%.

If they have purchased medical insurance policies, they may file for a claim. The public health doctor especially remarked that labor insurance is required by the Labour Relations Law.

At the same time, local residents will be exempted from paying if they are diagnosed with any infectious diseases listed on a legal list.

It was revealed by the press that some pregnant medical staff had been put to work on frontlines. On this, Leong said that the SSM would try its best to withdraw such medical staff from frontline positions, if work capacity is sufficient. 

She also added that, according to the contingencies for mass outbreaks, the city’s facilities can hold a maximum of 6,700 positive cases.

Chinese medical therapies kick in to combat infections

Lo revealed that, from today, all positive cases currently in hotel quarantine can receive Chinese medical consultations and therapies upon request.

The health chief said that, from then on, those who requested would see SSM Chinese medicine practitioners in phone or video consultations. They will evaluate their “body types” and, if necessary, prescribe prescription Chinese medications.

However, the Western medicine practitioner did not explain how the team of Chinese medicine practitioners would be able to identify people’s “body types” without being able to access their pulse. 

Evaluation of pulse conditions is one of the four core diagnostic tactics in traditional Chinese medicine, with the other three being looking, listening and asking.