Schools to resume on Monday

After almost a month of school suspensions caused by the Covid-19 outbreaks in late September and early October, students will return to school this coming Monday, Kong Chi Meng, vice-director of the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ), announced yesterday.
However, the DSEDJ official stressed that a precondition for the resumption of school is the city not seeing any new Covid-19 cases in the coming days.
Due to the relatively long school suspension, Kong said that the education regulator has instructed schools to focus on students’ adaptability and consolidation of previously taught content, meaning that teaching staff are not encouraged to teach new material during the early phase of the return to school.
Kong revealed that parents will have the discretion to decide whether their children return to school during the first week back. Those who do not return next week may be considered not officially absent, at the discretion of individual schools.
Cross-border students may return to school from Monday. The usual dedicated border clearance channels for these students will resume operation as well.
Should no new cases be detected by Monday, higher education institutions will also resume face-to-face lectures on the same day.
Monday will also see the resumption of private extracurricular education facilities, such as tuition centers and life education providers.
Teaching staff at all educational facilities are required to take a nucleic acid test every seven days or have received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Without a representative at the regular health press conference yesterday, the Social Welfare Bureau announced separately that nurseries will also reopen on Monday.
Aged care homes and daycare facilities will also resume normal operation. Visitors must hold a valid negative nucleic acid test result or have received at least one vaccine jab.
A recent equipment malfunction at Kuok Kim, a third-party nucleic acid test provider, has delayed results for about 2,200 test takers.
When questioned yesterday at the regular health press conference, public health doctor Leong Iek Hou, coordinator at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, reported that the Health Bureau (SSM), as the supervising entity, has ordered Kuok Kim to submit a report within three days to explain the incident.
The SSM has also required the service provider to put contingencies in place should similar situations arise in the future.
According to Leong, once the SSM became aware of the situation on the day of the incident, it ordered Kuok Kim to contact those affected and make a public announcement about the issue.
During the early stages of the incident, some social media users complained that they had received no notification whatsoever from Kuok Kim.
With regard to compensation, Leong recommended that those affected file a complaint and request with Kuok Kim.
Questioned on the price of the test in Macau, Leong said that the government has been in negotiations with third-party service providers about lowering the price.
It was revealed by the press that tests in Zhuhai are charged differently according to the type of test – grouped or individual – with a grouped test being less expensive.
According to some members of the press, some pregnant employees have been forced by their employers to take the Covid-19 vaccine, which is not required by the SSM.
Leong explained that, although many pregnant individuals worldwide have been inoculated, considering the relatively low risk levels in Macau those who are pregnant can temporarily be exempted from receiving the jab.
She added that if employees find it necessary, they can file a complaint with the SSM.
Leong also reiterated that foreigners and non-Chinese-national Macau residents who want to enter mainland China from Macau should get the Sinopharm inactivated vaccine as part of their visa application requirements.

NAT provider says results delay due to malfunction

Third-party nucleic acid test provider Kuok Kim experienced a malfunction on Tuesday, resulting in a number of people not getting their test results shown on their health codes.
Some of those affected said that Kuok Kim did not offer an explanation. Queues of test takers were seen Wednesday at the office of the company, urging it to provide an explanation.
Kuok Kim apologized for the delay later that night, saying that it was caused by a malfunction in some of its laboratory equipment. An extra free-of-charge test was offered to those affected.