Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre reported four more local COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, all of them security guards working in the SAR’s quarantine hotels.
The four cases had already been in quarantine from 25 September, soon after Macau’s 65th COVID-19 case was confirmed last Saturday. The four new cases take Macau’s total to 71 cases since the start of the global pandemic in early 2020.
The quartet had all received several virus tests and showed negative results before testing positive on Tuesday 28 September. Three of the security guards had worked on the same floor as the 64th case – a 31-year-old man who arrived in Macau from Turkey via Singapore on 18 September – or had close contact with other security guards of the Golden Crown China Hotel, the hotel where the man was in quarantine. The other security guard worked at the neighboring Treasure Hotel but shared the same restroom with security guards of Golden Crown China Hotel.
A mass testing blitz running for three days from 25 to 28 September and the city’s second in less than two months returned no positive results from 689,766 samples taken.
Nevertheless, the chief executive of SAR, Ho Iat Seng, met the Zhuhai government via an online meeting on Tuesday night where it was agreed to prolong by 48 hours entry restrictions to Zhuhai from Macau until midnight at the start of 1 October. All individuals entering Zhuhai before then will be required to undergo 14 days of quarantine.
