Omicron subvariant BA.5 is highly contagious but containable: Successful experience from Macau.

Introduction: Due to its high transmissibility and immune escape, Omicron subvariant BA.5 has become the dominant strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and led to escalating COVID-19 cases, how to cope with it becomes an urgent issue. A BA.5 infection surge burst out on 18 June 2022 and brought an unprecedented challenge to Macau, the most densely populated region worldwide. This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of this outbreak and summarize the useful anti-epidemic measures and experiences during this outbreak. Methods: All data were obtained from the Government Portal of Macao SAR (https://www.gov.mo), and the Special Webpage Against Epidemics, the Macao Health Bureau (www.ssm.gov.mo). An epidemiologic study was performed to analyze epidemic outcomes, including the infection rate, the proportion of symptomatic cases, the case fatality ratio (CFR), etc. Data were analyzed using SPSS Version 20. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The anti-epidemic measures and experience were reviewed and summarized. Results: The BA.5 outbreak resulted in 1,821 new cases, which was significantly more than the cumulative cases of the previous variants of COVID-19 in Macau. The symptomatic cases accounted for 38.71% of the total cases, which was higher than that of the previous variants. After 6-week concerted efforts, Macau effectively controlled the outbreak, with an infection rate of 0.27%, which was much lower than many BA.5-attacked regions. The CFR was approximately 0.86%, which was not statistically different from that of previous variants. Six victims were chronically ill senior elders and their vaccination rate was much lower than the average level. Macau took a comprehensive anti-epidemic strategy to win a quick victory against BA.5, especially the "relatively static" strategy that was first formulated and applied by Macau for the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Successful experience showed that although BA.5 was highly contagious, it could be contained by comprehensive anti-epidemic measures, including adequate anti-epidemic preparation, herd immunity through vaccination, repeated mass nucleic acid tests and rapid antigen tests, KN-95 mask mandate, the "relatively static" strategy, precise prevention and control, epidemiological investigation and tracing, and traditional Chinese medicine treatment, etc. Discussion: In Macau, compared with the previous subvariants, BA.5 is associated with increased transmissibility and a higher proportion of symptomatic cases, however, the risk of death remains similar, and the infection rate is much lower than that in many other BA.5-attacked regions. BA.5 is highly contagious but still containable, Macau's experience may offer hints for the regions experiencing the BA.5 waves to choose or adjust a more rational anti-epidemic strategy.

COVID-19 prevention and control strategies: learning from the Macau model.

Background: Macau is a densely populated international tourist city. Compared to most tensely populated countries/territories, the prevalence and mortality of COVID-19 in Macau are lower. The experiences in Macau could be helpful for other areas to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This article introduced the endeavours and achievements of Macau in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods were used to explore the work, measures, and achievements of Macau in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The results revealed that Macau has provided undifferentiated mask purchase reservation services, COVID-19 vaccination services to all residents and non-residents in Macau along with delivering multilingual services, in Chinese, English and Portuguese, to different groups of the population. To facilitate the travels of people, business and trades between Macau and mainland China, the Macau government launched the Macau Health Code System, which uses the health status declaration, residence history declaration, contact history declaration of the declarant to match various relevant backend databases within the health authority and provide a risk-related colour code operations. The Macau Health Code System connects to the Chinese mainland's own propriety health code system seamlessly, whilst effectively protecting the privacy of the residents. Macau has also developed the COVID-19 Vaccination Appointment system, the Nucleic Acid Test Appointment system, the Port and Entry/Exit Quarantine system, the medical and other supporting systems. Conclusion: The efforts in Macau have achieved remarkable results in COVID-19 prevention and control, effectively safeguarding the lives and health of the people and manifesting the core principle of "serving the public". The measures used are sustainable and can serve as an important reference for other countries/regions.

Social Media Engagement in Two Governmental Schemes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Macao.

Social media engagement is a vehicle for effective communication and engagement between governments and individuals, especially in crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, it can be used to communicate resilience measures and receive feedback. This research aims to investigate public social media engagement with resilience measures related to COVID-19 in Macao. We examined 1107 posts and 791 comments about the government's face mask supply and consumption voucher schemes on Facebook. Using the Crisis Lifecycle model, we partitioned the data and analyzed the content and engagement of related posts, as well as the word semantics in user comments. Our findings show that social media engagement in these resilience measures is high and positive in the early stages of the pandemic, suggesting social media's potential in mobilizing society, preserving social resilience, and serving as a two-way communication tool in public health emergencies.

Spatiotemporal spread pattern of the COVID-19 cases in China.

The COVID-19 pandemic is currently spreading widely around the world, causing huge threats to public safety and global society. This study analyzes the spatiotemporal pattern of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, reveals China's epicenters of the pandemic through spatial clustering, and delineates the substantial effect of distance to Wuhan on the pandemic spread. The results show that the daily new COVID-19 cases mostly occurred in and around Wuhan before March 6, and then moved to the Grand Bay Area (Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau). The total COVID-19 cases in China were mainly distributed in the east of the Huhuanyong Line, where the epicenters accounted for more than 60% of the country's total in/on 24 January and 7 February, half in/on 31 January, and more than 70% from 14 February. The total cases finally stabilized at approximately 84,000, and the inflection point for Wuhan was on 14 February, one week later than those of Hubei (outside Wuhan) and China (outside Hubei). The generalized additive model-based analysis shows that population density and distance to provincial cities were significantly associated with the total number of the cases, while distances to prefecture cities and intercity traffic stations, and population inflow from Wuhan after 24 January, had no strong relationships with the total number of cases. The results and findings should provide valuable insights for understanding the changes in the COVID-19 transmission as well as implications for controlling the global COVID-19 pandemic spread.

Updated understanding of the outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Wuhan, China.

To help health workers and the public recognize and deal with the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) quickly, effectively, and calmly with an updated understanding. A comprehensive search from Chinese and worldwide official websites and announcements was performed between 1 December 2019 and 9:30 am 26 January 2020 (Beijing time). A latest summary of 2019-nCoV and the current outbreak was drawn. Up to 24 pm, 25 January 2020, a total of 1975 cases of 2019-nCoV infection were confirmed in mainland China with a total of 56 deaths having occurred. The latest mortality was approximately 2.84% with a total of 2684 cases still suspected. The China National Health Commission reported the details of the first 17 deaths up to 24 pm, 22 January 2020. The deaths included 13 males and 4 females. The median age of the people who died was 75 (range 48-89) years. Fever (64.7%) and cough (52.9%) were the most common first symptoms among those who died. The median number of days from the occurence of the first symptom to death was 14.0 (range 6-41) days, and it tended to be shorter among people aged 70 years or more (11.5 [range 6-19] days) than those aged less than 70 years (20 [range 10-41] days; P = .033). The 2019-nCoV infection is spreading and its incidence is increasing nationwide. The first deaths occurred mostly in elderly people, among whom the disease might progress faster. The public should still be cautious in dealing with the virus and pay more attention to protecting the elderly people from the virus.

Community pharmacist in public health emergencies: Quick to action against the coronavirus 2019-nCoV outbreak.

The 2019-nCoV infection that is caused by a novel strain of coronavirus was first detected in China in the end of December 2019 and declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization on January 30, 2020. Community pharmacists in one of the first areas that had confirmed cases of the viral infection, Macau, joined the collaborative force in supporting the local health emergency preparedness and response arrangements. This paper aimed to improve the understanding of community pharmacists' role in case of 2019-CoV outbreak based on the practical experiences in consultation with the recommendations made by the International Pharmaceutical Federation on the Coronavirus 2019-nCoV outbreak.