COVID-19 pandemic in Macau
The COVID-19 pandemic in Macau was a part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case of the disease in the special administrative region of China was confirmed on 22 January 2020. The city saw nine more cases by 4 February, but no more cases until 15 March, when imported cases began to appear. Stringent government measures have included the 15-day closure of all 81 casinos in the territory in February 2020; in addition, effective 25 March, the territory disallowed connecting flights at its airport as well as entry by all non-residents (with the exception of residents of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), and from 6 April, the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge was closed to public transport and most other traffic.
| COVID-19 pandemic in Macau | |
|---|---|
| Disease | COVID-19 |
| Virus strain | SARS-CoV-2 |
| Location | Macau |
| First outbreak | Wuhan, Hubei, China |
| Arrival date | January 22, 2020; 4 years, 2 months, 3 weeks and 3 days ago |
| Confirmed cases | 3,334 (including 1,239 asymptomatic cases) |
| Active cases | 16,664 |
| Suspected cases‡ | 5,633 |
| Recovered | 3,017 (including 326 asymptomatic cases) |
Deaths | 123 |
| Vaccinations | Total doses administered: 1,443,289 Total people vaccinated: 614,677 (including 586,843 with multiple doses) |
| Government website | |
| Macao Government Special webpage against Epidemics | |
| ‡Suspected cases have not been confirmed by laboratory tests as being due to this strain, although some other strains may have been ruled out. | |
The territory had not suffered a major outbreak of COVID-19 until June 2022, when a cluster of locally transmitted COVID-19 cases prompted the government to implement restrictions, including the closure of non-essential businesses and repeated rounds of mandatory mass testing of its entire population, in line with mainland China's Zero-COVID policy (Portuguese: Meta Dinâmica de Infecção Zero).
At a press conference on 5 January 2023, the Macau Health Bureau director Alvis Lo Iek Long stated that COVID-19 had become an endemic disease in Macau, and announced the cancellation of almost all entry curbs and measures. The statement followed a transition period that began on 8 December 2022 with the gradual easing of transmission curbs.