Macau’s Health Bureau announced that it had recorded a new imported case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the 49th case found in the city since the outbreak of the pandemic early last year.
The latest case is a 23-year-old male resident who was studying in Portugal. He departed from Lisbon on 4 April and travelled via Paris and Taipei before arriving in Macau on 7 April.
He tested negative to the coronavirus on 4 and 5 April but returned a “weakly positive” result upon entry into Macau. However, the test also revealed antibody isotopes IgM and IgG, suggesting he may have had the virus some time ago.
The Health Bureau said it considered the case to be a relapse by an asymptomatic patient and classified the case as imported. The patient was immediately sent to a hospital isolation ward for further treatment.
This latest case is the first since a previous imported case in early February, while Macau has not recorded any locally acquired infections for more than a year now, reaching 374 days on Wednesday.
As of 7 April, around 41,110 people have received their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine with 17,550 people now fully vaccinated after receiving their second dose.
The Novel Coronavirus Contingency Coordination has also announced an extension of the vaccination plan to non-residents. Students studying in local universities and other non-residents are allowed to receive shots from 12 April, which will be free of charge for students and MOP$250 for anyone else.
