MACAU: Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced that three more Nepali security guards working in a government-designated quarantine hotel in Taipa have been diagnosed with COVID-19, raising the city’s novel coronavirus tally to 70.
According to a press conference this afternoon and a string of statements by the center during the day, the three non-resident workers from Nepal work as security guards at the Golden Crown China Hotel in front of the local airport.
The Golden Crown China is one of the various hotels that have been designated by the government for mandatory medical observation quarantine in response to the COVID-19 threat.
The 68th COVID-19 patient is 26 years old. He tested positive for the disease today. He was inoculated against COVID-19 on May 18 and June 3 in Macau with China’s Sinopharm vaccine. He is a colleague of the 65th patient, a fellow Nepali citizen who also works as a security guard at the hotel.
The 69th and 70th patients also tested positive for the disease today. Both were vaccinated twice with the Sinopharm vaccine, on May 29 and July 3, and on May 22 and June 25, respectively. The statement did not say how old both are.
According to the statements, the three latest patients are asymptomatic. They have been transferred to the Public Health Clinica Centre in Coloane for isolation treatment.
Macau’s current wave of COVID-19 cases started on Friday when a local resident holding Turkish nationality in medical observation quarantine at the Golden Crown China Hotel was diagnosed with the disease. He became Macau’s 64th COVID-19 patient.
Two Nepali security guards working at the same hotel – Macau’s 65th and 66th novel coronavirus patients who were apparently infected with the disease by the local resident from Turkey – were shortly afterward diagnosed with the disease. Macau’s Health Bureau (SSM) later said both had failed to wear their facemasks properly while on duty at the hotel.
A Hong Kong woman became Macau’s 67th COVID-19 patient when she tested positive for the disease yesterday. She stayed in medical observation quarantine at the Treasure Hotel which is connected to the adjacent Golden Crown China Hotel.
Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 case on January 22 last year. No novel coronavirus fatalities have been reported.
Due to the latest cases, parts of three residential neighborhoods on the peninsula have been sealed off by the authorities. The streets and lanes partially affected by the lockdowns comprise Rua da Palmeira, Travessa do Enleio, Travessa da Corda, Rua da Erva, Rua do Visconde Paço de Arcos, Rua Cinco de Outubro, and Travessa dos Colonos.
(with inputs from Macaupostdaily)
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