Two new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Macau on Monday, one a 34-year-old mainland Chinese man living in Macau and the other a 21-year-old woman from Macau. The government classified the two confirmed cases as import-related and sealed the building where they live in Macau.
The 34-year-old mainland man works in Gongbei, Zhuhai and lives in Macau. He was working in the courier area of the underground shopping mall of Gongbei Port and was found to be positive during a test early Monday morning. The Macau government received a notification from the Zhuhai government on Monday and sealed off the building where the man lives in Macau, making it a “red code area”, while his wife and son were sent to centralized quarantine. Their NAT testing has so far returned negative results.
The building in which the diagnosed man lives is located next to the government headquarters, and a number of police officers were on guard and maintaining security when the building was locked down.
The 21-year-old Macau woman’s diagnosis was also confirmed today, and the source of the infection may be her parents. The government said her parents returned to Macau from Portugal on 29 October and tested positive during their isolation period. They were released from isolation on 10 November, but tested positive again on 13 November and needed to be isolated again. The 21-year-old woman from Macau, with whom they were living, confirmed the diagnosis today.
The building they live in is now a red code area, and the entire building sealed off.
The number of confirmed cases during Macau’s previous outbreak reached 10 on 26 October, but there had been no more cases until now.
Meanwhile the number of confirmed cases in mainland China continues to increase, with 16,072 new cases confirmed on Sunday including 4,648 in Guangdong Province.
The governments of mainland China and Macau changed their epidemic prevention policy last Friday from seven days of hotel quarantine plus three days of self-health management to five days of hotel quarantine plus three days of home isolation.