Macao’s Health Bureau had obtained the technique to perform rapid tests to detect the influenza A (H1N1) virus, thanks to the exchanges with the Mainland, Hong Kong and the United States’ health departments.

The Bureau announced today that test results for the virus could now be known in five to six hours.

A spokesman said all four Macao residents who were quarantined in Hong Kong and Guangdong have shown respiratory illness symptoms. The quarantine period for the three Macao residents in Hong Kong would finish tomorrow and it was reported to the Health Bureau that the Macao resident in Guangdong had been discharged.

Meanwhile, the Hospital Conde S. Januário treated 85 children and 60 adults with respiratory illness symptoms today and medical teams at terminals checked body temperatures of more than 135,000 people entering Macao. They also dealt with 10 enquiries, but no unusual case was detected.

To date there is no probable or confirmed human case of influenza A (H1N1) reported in Macao.