The Government is preparing a local version of the mainland’s “health code”, a digital system for certifying the health condition of individual citizens. The aim is that such a system could be used by Macao people to facilitate them crossing into the mainland at Macao boundary points.

A preliminary proposal was to expand functions of Macao’s existing online Personal Health Declaration system. Such expansion could involve a colour-coding element to refer to that user’s health condition.

More details would be announced in due course, said a Health Bureau official on Wednesday (22 April) during a regular press conference of the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre.

Macao has not recorded any new COVID-19 cases over the past 15 days, said a Health Bureau official during today’s press conference held by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre.

There has been a total of 45 COVID-19 cases recorded in Macao. As of today, 27 patients have so far recovered from the disease after receiving successful treatment in Macao.

Three of them were discharged from medical care in the past two days. They were: the city’s 33rd COVID-19 case, namely a 37-year-old female, who was registered with the Macao authorities as a non-resident worker; the 38th case, a 44-year-old male resident of Macao, who returned on 16 March from the United Kingdom; and the 37th case, a 32-year-old Portuguese national who is also a Macao resident.

As of today, 18 patients were confirmed to have ongoing infection and were receiving treatment in Macao. All of them were described respectively as in stable condition and as having mild symptoms relating to COVID-19.

Of the 27 patients that had recovered, an aggregate of 10 had been discharged from hospital at an earlier stage of the novel coronavirus alert. The 17 people treated more recently were – upon their recovery – kept in isolation at the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane for a further 14-day period of health monitoring.

All persons previously classified as having had close contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients had been appropriately managed and had now been cleared from monitoring.

As of today, there were 163 people undergoing relevant medical observation in Macao, either in hotels designated for that purpose, or at Health Bureau premises.

The 10th round of the face mask supply scheme started on Wednesday. As of that time until 1 May, members of the public may purchase a total of 10 face masks at an aggregate cost of eight patacas, from any of the 84 designated locations by presenting either a Macao ID card or a non-resident worker ID card.

The Government has sufficient face masks for purchase by Macao residents and non-resident workers during the 10th round of the supply scheme. Members of the public are advised not to hurry to buy such items in the first few days of the new round of sales.