Macau’s mass COVID-19 testing blitz entered its second day on Thursday with more than 55% of the population having received their tests and all 115,000 completed having come back negative as of 4pm.
A mass testing blitz got underway on Wednesday morning after authorities confirmed a family of four had tested positive for COVID-19 following a recent trip to Zhuhai.
In response, the government said all people in Macau, including residents, non-resident workers and visitors, were required to get a test within 72 hours. The deadline is 9am on Saturday 7 August.
Under Macau’s health code system, anyone who completes their test and receives a negative result will show a green health code, however anyone who has not been tested will remain yellow and be refused entry to public spaces such as casinos, hotels and guesthouses, food and beverage outlets, government offices and most retail outlets, among others.
The testing blitz had caused chaos on the first day as people rushed to the 41 testing sites on offer, resulting in long queues and wait times of over 10 hours in some places. As a result, Guangdong Province sent 300 experienced inspectors to help on Thursday.
However, testing results were delayed for two days as the 600,000 testing samples exceeded the testing capacity of Macau’s institutions. Results are usually returned in eight to 12 hours.
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