Community-based preventions for COVID-19 in Macao and their effectiveness

Because of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide, Macao responded quickly to this new infectious disease and has enacted a range of preventive strategies since January 2020, aiming to curtain imported cases as well as community transmissions As of August 7, 2020, there were 44 imported cases, 2 import-related ones, and no community-transmitted ones in Macao, reflecting the effectiveness of the preventive strategies This article describes the measures taken by the Macao government to prevent the community transmissions, including supply of masks for all residents, disseminations of preventive measures through multiple channels, restrictions of cross-border flow of people, and prevention of unnecessary gatherings These strategies received well responses from the public However, in the context of normalization of the epidemic situation, it is necessary for the Macao government and residents to review the current strategies and identify the weaknesses so that improvement can be made Only when continuous efforts from the whole community are made, can Macao maintain a record of no community-transmitted cases, when there are re-surges of COVID-19 cases in the neighboring regions