COVID-19 pandemic in Macau

COVID-19 pandemic in Macau
DiseaseCOVID-19
Virus strainSARS-CoV-2
LocationMacau
First outbreakWuhan, Hubei, China
Arrival dateJanuary 22, 2020 (2020-01-22); 4 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 5 days ago
Confirmed cases3,334[1] (including 1,239 asymptomatic cases)
Active cases16,664[2]
Suspected cases‡5,633
Recovered3,017[1] (including 326 asymptomatic cases)
Deaths
123[1]
VaccinationsTotal doses administered: 1,443,289
Total people vaccinated: 614,677 (including 586,843 with multiple doses) [1]
Government website
Macao Government Special webpage against Epidemics
‡Suspected cases have not been confirmed by laboratory tests as being due to this strain, although some other strains may have been ruled out.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Macau was a part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case of the disease in the special administrative region of China was confirmed on 22 January 2020. The city saw nine more cases by 4 February, but no more cases until 15 March, when imported cases began to appear.[3] Stringent government measures[4] have included the 15-day closure of all 81 casinos in the territory in February 2020; in addition, effective 25 March, the territory disallowed connecting flights at its airport as well as entry by all non-residents (with the exception of residents of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), and from 6 April, the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge was closed to public transport and most other traffic.

The territory had not suffered a major outbreak of COVID-19 until June 2022, when a cluster of locally transmitted COVID-19 cases prompted the government to implement restrictions, including the closure of non-essential businesses and repeated rounds of mandatory mass testing of its entire population,[5] in line with mainland China's Zero-COVID policy (Portuguese: Meta Dinâmica de Infecção Zero).[6][7]

At a press conference on 5 January 2023, the Macau Health Bureau director Alvis Lo Iek Long stated that COVID-19 had become an endemic disease in Macau, and announced the cancellation of almost all entry curbs and measures. The statement followed a transition period that began on 8 December 2022 with the gradual easing of transmission curbs.[8][9]

  1. ^ a b c d "Macao Government Special webpage against Epidemics". Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Macau. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  2. ^ Active cases = confirmed cases - recoveries - deaths.
  3. ^ Keegan, Matthew (24 March 2020). "Lessons From Macau, the Densely Populated Region Beating Back COVID-19". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  4. ^ Lou, Loretta (26 March 2021). "Casino capitalism in the era of COVID-19: examining Macau's pandemic response". Social Transformations in Chinese Societies. 17 (2): 69–79. doi:10.1108/STICS-09-2020-0025. S2CID 233650925. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Macau begins 11th round of mass testing in worst COVID outbreak". Reuters. 18 July 2022.
  6. ^ "Macau shuts most businesses amid COVID outbreak, casinos stay open". Reuters. 21 June 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Palavras-chave sobre a pandemia da COVID-19 新冠疫情關鍵詞（一）抗疫工具及政策篇". 澳門理工大學 中葡英機器翻譯聯合實驗室.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference jan2023-1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference jan2023-2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).