The present citywide nucleic acid testing programme has detected preliminary positive cases in 10-in-1 mixed samples taken in six different testing centers, and re-testing is being carried out on a single-sample basis, health authorities revealed.
In the 10-in-one mixed sampling technique the swab heads are put into the same virus preservation tube during the collection process, followed by enclosed transport, inactivation and testing.
Any mixed samples with negative results are eliminated, and no further individual tests were conducted, while with mixed samples with positive results, further individual tests are conducted to determine who was infected with 2019-nCoV.
The samples concerned were collected at the following NAT stations and times:
- Kiang Wu Hospital: around 12:00 on 19 June;
- Venetian: around 12:30 on 19 June;
- Mong-Ha Sports Centre: around 16:40 on 19 June;
- Dom Bosco (Yuet Wah) Primary School: around 18:00 on 19 June;
- Academy of Public Security Forces: around 19:25 on 19 June
- Macau Workers’ Children School (Kindergarten Section): around 03:00 on 20 June
‘Citizens who went to get tested at the above locations and times need not worry, but should manage their own health properly, conduct rapid antigen self-test once within two days following their sampling and upload the test result to the designated platform. If feeling unwell, visit the emergency service of hospital for medical attention,’ pandemic prevention authorities stated.
At present, all the stations have been cleaned and disinfected and remain in operation.
At 9:00 am today (Monday) some 34 positive cases were uncovered, 23 of them women and 11 men with a total of 764 people linked to these cases under close observation.
By the same time, almost 340,000 people had finished sample collection under the mandated citywide testing, with 190,800 people coming back negative.
Anyone who remains untested after 12:00 pm on 21 June will be assigned a yellow health code and be taken by the police to a designated venue to undergo sampling; the individuals concerned will not be allowed to leave the venue until their test returns as negative.
People who refuse to take the test will be subject to medical observation at designated venue for 14 days.
