Lim Tean praises Macau as the "Platinum Standard" in battle against Covid-19

Singapore – Opposition politician Lim Tean has dubbed Macau as the “Platinum Standard” in the battle against Covid-19, following the discharge from hospital of the last of the territory’s 10 patients.

Mr Lim, leader of the People’s Voice party, shared the news in a Facebook post on Saturday (March 7). “The territory now has zero coronavirus patients and no new cases for over a month,” he said. “Despite being next to mainland China, it only had 10 cases of the virus.”

On Friday (March 6), according to a report in macaunews.mo, Macau Health Bureau Director Lei Chin Ion had told a press conference: “I have good news to share. This afternoon, we discharged the 10th patient. Now nobody is hospitalised because of this disease, and there were no deaths from the new coronavirus either.”

Mr Lim said in his Facebook post that “if there is one territory/country which deserves a platinum medal for protecting its people’s health and safety, it must go to Macau”. The territory’s authorities were proactive in containing the disease from the onset. They closed all its casinos and 18 other types of establishments, such as bars, cinemas and massage parlours, for 15 days from Feb 4.

In addition, the authorities distributed 20 million masks for sale to the public. “This is a territory with a population of 660,000,” said Mr Lim.

Furthermore, the Macau authorities urged every person who took public transport to wear a mask. Mr Lim, comparing this to the situation in Singapore, said: “For those who believe that the wearing of face masks is unnecessary unless one is sick, you should think again!” He mentioned Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand as other examples of places where the wearing of face masks is widespread and encouraged and consequently have fewer Covid-19 cases than Singapore.

Mr Lim then urged Ministers Gan Kim Yong and Lawrence Wong, and others in the Singapore task force on the Covid-19 outbreak, to “learn from these countries instead of making excuses all the time when explaining why Singapore is seeing a spike in the number of cases”.

Following Mr Lim’s post, there was praise online of Macau’s efforts against the spread of Covid-19, with the territory being called a “warrior at the gates” of mainland China.