The Health Service of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has placed an order of a fast test agent which can detect coronavirus in four hours with a German company, the Macao SARS task force disclosed Wednesday.
The task force, which took a round-the-clock control of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) after the first SARS infection case in Macao was confirmed on May 10, said that the purchase was placed under the coordination of the World Health Organization. However, the amount and delivery of the order has not yet been settled since the supplier has felt a pressure to catch the soaring market demand of the fast SARS test agent.
Chui Sai On, secretary for social affairs and culture and the appointed director of the task force, said that Macao has already obtained the technology and equipment of the testing. As soon as the test agent arrives, Macao will be able to conduct the PCR test of coronavirus, which has been found to be the cause of the viral pneumonia.
Before the test agent arrives, Macao will continue to depend on the Hong Kong Health Department for PCR tests, which helped verify the first SARS case in Macao.
Chui said that the fast SARS test method can only provide reference for SARS diagnosis, since it merely has an accuracy rate of 20 percent to test coronavirus in a patient's respiratory secretion sample after two days of infection, and 75 percent after six days of infection.
Macao's first SARS patient, a 29-year-old air-conditioner maintenance worker, is recovering under the isolation treatment in the Government Hospital of Macao. He is expected to leave the hospital in two to three weeks if everything goes well, said Lei Chin Ion, head of the hospital.
None of the eight health workers and two other patients in the hospital who were isolated after having contacts with the SARS patient had showed symptoms of SARS till Wednesday, said Lei.
He said that Macao has prepared anti-SARS medications enough for the treatment and rehabilitation treatment of 400 patients.
(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2003)
