The SUN HK : Filipinos in Macau ordered to take daily nucleic acid tests

22 July 2022

By The SUN

Filipinos in Macau have been identified as 'key group with high infection rate' (File)

All Philippine passport holders in Macau – including residents – are being required to take a daily nucleic acid test (NAT or PCR in Hong Kong) starting today, Friday.

According to Leong Iek Hou, head of the Health Bureau’s communicable disease prevention and control division, 171 of Macau’s 1,795 (or roughly 9.5%) confirmed Covid-19 cases are Philippine passport holders, so the Filipino community has been classified as a key group with a high infection rate.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

The city government has so far identified eight of such key groups, which also include domestic helper who live with their employers.

All people who go to work will also be required to take a NAT every two days.

Pindutin para sa detalye

Later this afternoon, the Macau government said in a statement that mandatory NAT was also being imposed for around 35,000 people who live in key areas around Rua do Seminario, Rua da Praia do Manduco, Camões Garden and San Kio, or anyone who has stayed there for more than 30 minutes since 18 July.

The daily NAT will last for three days, or until Sunday, and will include children above the age of three, the elderly and the infirm.

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A text message has been sent to people living in the designated areas reminding them to book for the NATs. The Macao Health Code will turn yellow on a subsequent day for those who do not get tested as required.

For the rest of the people in the enclave, a daily rapid antigen test is required from tomorrow. They must declare the results in a declaration platform, otherwise their health code will turn yellow, and they will not be allowed to enter certain venues.

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The stepped-up testing was announced as Macau recorded its sixth Covid-19 death, involving an unvaccinated 93-year-old man who succumbed to respiratory problems early this morning. He was diagnosed with pneumonia on Jul 9 but his family declined medical treatment.

After Macau’s 12^th round of testing ended at 3pm today, a total of 589,014 people had been tested and only one positive result was obtained from each of the pooled sample the 10+1 samples.