The Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) is paying close attention to the latest COVID-19 case recorded in Doumen district of Zhuhai, and is keeping in close contact with the Zhuhai Government on developments in that regard.

The Macao SAR Government has asked all members of the Macao public that were in Doumen, Zhuhai, during the period 16 January to 23 January inclusive, to go for medical screening at Conde S. Januário Hospital if either they have developed, or do develop, any symptoms such as a fever, cough, shortness of breath, or loss of taste or smell.

According information provided by the Zhuhai Government on Sunday (24 January), the case involved a person who returned to Guangdong Province via Guangzhou on 2 January from the Ukraine. In Guangzhou, the now-patient had undergone a 14-day period of medical observation. The patient then returned to Zhuhai, their place of residence, and started a seven-day period of health self-management. A COVID-19 test conducted on 23 January had a ‘positive’ result, and an Immunoglobulin G (IgG) test also gave a ‘positive’ result.

This Zhuhai case was classified as an imported one, after the patient was retested and again showed a ‘positive’ result for COVID-19 infection. The patient had not complained of any symptoms. Testing of people identified as having had close contact with the patient has produced ‘negative’ results; and samples gathered from items in the patient’s residence were also ‘negative’ for presence of the virus.

The Zhuhai Government has stated that it believed this was a ‘relapsed’ case of COVID-19. It said relapsed patients registering a ‘positive’ result for COVID-19 infection upon being retested after initial recovery, had a relatively low risk of spreading the disease. None of those identified as having had close contact with the patient since the person’s return to Guangdong had subsequently visited Macao.