The Government is striving to launch, within the first quarter, the programme for vaccinating the city’s inhabitants against COVID-19. The Government would ensure information regarding arrangements for such vaccination would be made available to the public in an open and transparent manner.

Officials made the comments during the Monday (25 January) edition of the regular press conference of the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre.

Vaccination would be free-of-charge to Macao ID holders, non-resident workers, and non-locals studying in Macao’s tertiary education institutions, according to a preliminary plan for such effort. Vaccination would be on a voluntary basis.

The Government has sourced in total three types of vaccine and Macao inhabitants would be offered a choice from among the types of vaccine available. The start of the local vaccination programme depended on when vaccine was first delivered to Macao.

A special web page, regarding appointment timings and with information about the vaccination programme, would be launched in the near future.

During the press conference, officials also gave an update on the condition of the patient confirmed by Macao as a 47th COVID-19 case.

The female underwent a series of tests after being admitted to Conde S. Januário Hospital for treatment. Test results indicated her body had been exposed to the novel coronavirus and its resulting infection for at least three weeks. The particular virus was not a new strain of the sort reported respectively in either the United Kingdom, South Africa or Brazil.

The patient had previously tested ‘negative’ for COVID-19 infection in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, immediately before she began a series of transit flights back to Macao. She had nonetheless on arrival in Macao showed a weak ‘positive’ response when tested for COVID-19 infection. The result was categorised as in likelihood a ‘relapsed’ condition, indicating she was in mid- to late-stage regarding her infection.

She was described as in a stable clinical condition in relation to COVID-19, without either fever or symptoms of respiratory trouble.

As of Monday, Macao had dealt with a total of 47 confirmed COVID-19 patients since the start of the pandemic. Of the aggregate, 46 had already been released from medical care. Of the 47 instances, 45 cases were classified as imported, and two were local but associated with imported cases.

Eight people classified as having had close contact with the 47th patient are now in the Public Health Clinical Centre in Coloane, for health monitoring.

Macao has had zero COVID-19-related deaths and zero infections among medical staff.