MACAU, July 19 - Every public department must plug loopholes in their epidemic prevention and control work, and strive for the goal of “zero COVID” in the community, so that people’s lives can return to normal as soon as possible.

The Chief Executive, Mr Ho Iat Seng, made the remark this afternoon at the Civil Protection Action Centre, as he listened to a work report on the Government’s month-long fight against Macao’s latest COVID-19 outbreak.

During this afternoon’s briefing involving officials from the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre, and officials responsible for civil protection, Mr Ho gave instructions on the next phase of epidemic prevention and control work.

The Chief Executive said the current COVID-19 outbreak faced by Macao was more daunting than any previous one, since the Omicron BA.5 variant was highly transmissible and insidious.  

The Government had adopted a series of timely measures to contain the spread of the virus in accordance with continuous risk assessments, and advice from medical experts from mainland China, he added.

All non-essential businesses and services have been closed since 11 July, in light of the “stay-at-home” mandate. A number of rounds of city-wide nucleic acid testing have been conducted to pinpoint risk groups in a bid to contain the outbreak, and these efforts have been paying off.

During the meeting, the Vice President of the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre and Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Ms Ao Ieong U, gave an introduction on preparatory work for the “consolidation” phase of epidemic prevention and control, which it is expected can begin on 23 July.

The problems that each public department might encounter during the consolidation phase were also discussed and possible solutions were put forward.

The Chief Executive reiterated that all public departments had to work together and put the health of Macao residents as their top priority in order to achieve the ultimate goal of “zero COVID” while ensuring the daily needs of the people, and maintaining social stability.

Concluding the meeting, Mr Ho thanked Macao people for their tolerance and cooperation in the past month, and expressed his heartfelt gratitude to all civil servants and volunteers from various organisations who had contributed to the fight against the epidemic.

The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Mr Cheong Weng Chon; the Secretary for Security, Mr Wong Sio Chak; Commissioner General of the Unitary Police Service, Mr Leong Man Cheong; Director-General of the Macao Customs Service, Mr Vong Man Chong; the Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive’s Office, Ms Hoi Lai Fong; and the heads of various public departments, also attended today’s meeting.