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Macao today reported three imported and one local Influenza A (H1N1) cases, bringing the total number of such cases to 94. The four cases were two brothers, aged 11 and 15, and their 17-year-old sister and their 31-year-old aunt. They stayed in the same room overnight when they visited Zhongshan, Guangdong, with four other family members from 11 to 12 July. The 17-year-old girl developed flu symptoms soon after she left Macao and was thus classified as a local case. The three other patients were believed to be infected in Zhongshan and were thus classified as imported cases. To date Macao had reported 94 Influenza A (H1N1) cases, with 17 patients receiving treatment. Two patients had recovered and were discharged from hospital today, taking the total number of discharged patients to 75. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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In an effort to facilitate better understanding of statistical information and the current situation of Macao among local students, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) organized a total of 32 seminars between February and June this year to promote statistical literacy to approximately 8,000 students in primary and secondary schools. Some people may regard “statistics” as being too difficult a subject for primary students! Undoubtedly, as statistics lays great emphasis on professionalism, accuracy and reliability, many people have the impression that statistics and statistical methodology are boring and incomprehensible. In view of this, DSEC custom-made for the primary students a funny educational cartoon short film, featuring two lovely characters of survey enumerators “Joe (中仔)” and “Bobo (保保)”, whose Chinese names represent neutrality and confidentiality of statistics. In a relaxing and lively approach, the kids were introduced to the job duties of DSEC, the joy and difficulties of enumerators on data collection, the principles of statistics confidentiality, the forms and channels of statistics dissemination, etc. Moreover, pupils were given examples of statistics that were closely related to them, through which they can learn more about Macao and the significance of statistics. On the other hand, as secondary students may have to do homework that involve statistics and data analysis, seminars held at secondary schools thus mainly focus on the proper and efficient use of the new DSEC website. Students were introduced to the new functions of the website, which enabled them to obtain online statistical information conveniently and efficiently. The newly added functions and contents included “Time Series Database”, “Personalized Webpage”, “Survey Corner”, “Media Corner”, “Fun Statistics”, etc. At each seminar, an interactive prize quiz was given to the students to reinforce their understanding of the seminar content. Students showed great enthusiasm and actively participated in the quiz. Since 1999, DSEC has been organizing seminars every year to promote statistical literacy among students, in which more than 60,000 students and teachers from primary and secondary schools, as well as universities, have taken part. In the coming future, DSEC will continue to hold different types of thematic seminars to promote the importance of statistics among students and encourage their participation in official statistics activities.
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Macao today reported two local and an imported Influenza A (H1N1) cases, bringing the total number of such cases to 90. The first local case was a nine-year-old Macao citizen, who was the son of a 56-year-old confirmed patient announced two days ago. The second local case was a three-year-old Macao citizen, who was the daughter of a 22-year-old confirmed patient announced yesterday. The single imported case reported today was a 13-year-old Irish who lived in Macao. She had travelled to Manila, the Philippines, between 7 and 12 July. She showed flu symptoms yesterday and was tested positive for the virus today. To date Macao had reported 90 Influenza A (H1N1) cases, with 15 patients receiving treatment. Seven patients had recovered and were discharged from hospital today, taking the total number of discharged patients to 73. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the second quarter of 2009 rose by 1.77% year-on-year to 146.09. The price indices of Restaurant Service and Food, Alcoholic Drinks & Tobacco increased notably by 6.29% and 6.10% respectively, which was attributable to rising charges for restaurant service and general increase of food prices. On the contrary, price index of Accommodation registered a year-on-year decrease of 4.75% as a result of lower hotel room rates. The second quarter TPI fell by 1.23% quarter-to-quarter, of which the price indices of Accommodation and Clothing & Footwear dropped by 14.95% and 5.72% respectively. On the other hand, price indices of Miscellaneous Goods and Entertainment & Cultural Activities rose by 2.39% and 1.94% respectively. The average TPI for the last 4 quarters ended the second quarter of 2009 increased by 5.33% over the previous period, with marked increase of the indices of Clothing & Footwear (+11.28%), Restaurant Service (+10.24%) and Food, Alcoholic Drinks & Tobacco (+9.45%). However, price index of Accommodation registered a decrease of 3.50%. For the first half year of 2009, TPI went up by 1.61% year-on-year. TPI reflects the price changes of goods and services purchased by visitors, which is compiled based on the consumption pattern of visitors derived from the Visitor Expenditure Survey. TPI covers 8 sections of goods and services, namely Food, Alcoholic Drinks & Tobacco; Clothing & Footwear; Accommodation; Restaurant Service; Transport & Communications; Medicine & Personal Goods; Entertainment & Cultural Activities; and Miscellaneous Goods. The base year of TPI is from July 1999 to June 2000.
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Macao reported a local and an imported Influenza A (H1N1) cases today, bringing the total number of such cases to 87. The two cases involved two Macao male citizens, aged 22 and 23 respectively. Currently, 18 patients infected with the virus were receiving treatment. One patient had recovered and was discharged from hospital today, taking the total number of discharged patients to 66. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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Macao today reported a local and an imported Influenza A (H1N1) cases, bringing the total number of such cases to 85. The two cases involved a 56-year-old man, and a 39-year-old woman who had travelled to Sydney, Australia, for a conference between 3 and 12 July. To date Macao had reported 85 Influenza A (H1N1) cases, with 19 patients receiving treatment. Four patients had recovered and were discharged from hospital today, taking the total number of discharged patients to 65. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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The total number of Influenza A (H1N1) cases climbed to 83 as Macao recorded two new imported cases today. The Health Bureau announced that the two new cases involved a 22-year-old Macao university student and a 20-year-old Macao citizen who lived in Foshan, Guangdong. Today one patient had recovered from the novel influenza and was discharged from hospital. Currently, 20 patients were receiving treatment and 61 people had been discharged from hospital so far. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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Macao today recorded no new Influenza A (H1N1) cases and four patients had recovered and were discharged from hospital. To date the total number of Influenza A (H1N1) cases remained at 81, and the total number of discharged patients increased to 60. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals in package tour totalled 244,654 in May 2009, a substantial decrease of 42.5% year-on-year, attributable to the influence of the human swine influenza pandemic and implementation of the new Travel Agency Regulation in Mainland China. Visitors from Mainland China (157,543), Hong Kong (17,792) and Japan (12,182) decreased by 43.5%, 44.5% and 38.8% respectively year-on-year whereas those from Taiwan, China (15,415) increased by 2.8%. In the first five months of 2009, visitor arrivals in package tours rose slightly by 0.9% over the same period of 2008 to 2,091,360. In May 2009, the number of Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours decreased by 17.1% year-on-year to 13,306. Mainland China (79.5%); Taiwan, China (7.1%); and Japan (4.3%) were the most popular tour itineraries. In the first five months of 2009, residents travelling in package tours decreased by 8.0% year-on-year to 79,533. Meanwhile, residents travelling outbound under own arrangements with services of travel agencies totalled 36,691, up by 25.5% over May 2008. Mainland China (39.7%) and Hong Kong (31.3%) were the main destinations. In the first five months of 2009, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements rose by 8.8% year-on-year to 163,207. At the end of May 2009, the number of guest rooms available in the hotel sector increased by 1,301 (+8.0%) from a year earlier to 17,529 rooms. In May 2009, a total of 444,912 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments, down by 18.2% year-on-year, with the majority of guests coming from Mainland China (47.0%) and Hong Kong (24.3%). The average hotel occupancy rate decreased notably by 13.5 percentage points year-on-year to 59.4%, with 4-star and 5-star hotels leading at 61.7% and 61.3% respectively. The average length of stay of hotel guests increased by 0.14 night year-on-year to 1.49 nights. The cumulative number of hotel guests decreased by 1.4% in the first five months of 2009 to 2,658,967. From January to May 2009, visitor-guests of hotels accounted for 61.7% of the total number of tourists, up from 56.3% in the corresponding period of 2008.
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Macao today reported five local and three imported Influenza A (H1N1) cases, taking the total number of such cases to 81. The Health Bureau announced that one of the local cases involved a two-year-old boy who had been taken care of by a crèche during daytime. He was tested positive for the virus yesterday and the Bureau had ordered the crèche to suspend its childcare services. The second local case involved a four-month-old baby from a Portuguese family with six out of its eight members confirmed with the virus. It is believed that the baby contracted the virus from her family members. The three other local cases involved a family of four, with the parents, aged 49 and 46, and their 13-year-old son contracted the virus. Their daughter was considered as a close contact person and was required to undergo medical observation at home. The three imported cases involved two Macao women, aged 21 and 24, and an 11-year-old Australian. Macao had reported 81 Influenza A (H1N1) cases to date, with 23 patients receiving treatment at hospital and one patient at home, and 46 people were asked to stay home for medical observation. Today eight patients had recovered from Influenza A (H1N1) and were discharged from hospital. Macao’s pandemic alert remained at Level VI, Blue, which indicated that there were no fatal cases and the spread of the virus was moderate.
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