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The International\nJournal of Biological Sciences <\/i>recently published a special issue titled\n\u2018The global battle against SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19\u2019, which reports the\nachievements and experience of Macao\u2019s public health sector in the fight\nagainst the novel coronavirus epidemic. The Conde de S\u00e3o Janu\u00e1rio Hospital\nCentre (Centro Hospitalar Conde de S\u00e3o Janu\u00e1rio) in Macao proposed that patients\ninfected with the novel coronavirus should only be discharged from the hospital\nupon showing negative results from two separate fecal nucleic acid tests. The related\nfindings are very valuable for the global anti-epidemic effort. Other articles\npublished in the special issue include a report on an epidemiological survey\nconducted by a team led by doctors of the Wuhan Mental Health Centre, a study\nfrom the University of Hong Kong\u2019s (HKU) Faculty of Medicine, and a series of\narticles from the University of Macau\u2019s (UM) Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) and\nInstitute of Chinese Medical Sciences (ICMS).<\/p>\n\n
As the sudden\noutbreak of the novel coronavirus quickly spread across continents and became a\nglobal pandemic, Macao, a world-class tourist destination, was also severely\nhit. In response to the epidemic, the newly inaugurated government of the Macao\nSpecial Administrative Region (SAR) took decisive measures and successfully\ncontrolled the spread of the epidemic in the SAR, with only ten confirmed cases\nand no emergence of new confirmed cases for over 40 days during the first stage\nof the epidemic. So far, all ten confirmed patients from Macao and outside the\ncity have been cured and discharged from the hospital. A team led by Lo Iek Long,\na thoracic and pulmonary specialist at the Conde de S\u00e3o Janu\u00e1rio Hospital Centre, the hospital in Macao that treats\npatients infected with the coronavirus, proposed that patients should only be\ndischarged from the hospital upon showing negative results from two separate\nfecal nucleic acid tests. The related findings are very valuable for the global\nanti-epidemic effort. Other articles published in the special issue include a\nreport on an epidemiological survey conducted by a team led by doctors Li\nWentian and Li Yi of the Wuhan Mental Health Centre, and a study from a research team led\nby Prof Jin Dongyan of HKU\u2019s Faculty of Medicine, which provides an overview of\nthe existing knowledge about seven human coronavirus (HCoVs).<\/p>\n\n