THE Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) reported three new COVID-19 cases yesterday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the SAR to 70, according to the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center of Macao.

The three cases, all working as security guards for a local hotel, were linked to an imported case last week.

Previously, two security guards working for the same hotel tested positive for COVID-19.

They tested positive after the health authority required staff of the hotel to go through testing following the confirmed imported case.

The imported case, a 31-year-old Macao resident who returned from Turkey via Singapore on Sept. 18, was put under quarantine at the hotel, the center said.

The over 150 guests staying at the hotel for quarantine will move out and all staff of the hotel will have to undergo quarantine, according to the center.

Residents in the areas where the three cases stayed in the city will only be allowed to leave with a negative nucleic acid test report, said Lo Iek Long, director of the Macao Health Bureau.

Macao started the second round of mass testing Saturday afternoon. So far, over 97 percent of the 645,230 samples have returned negative, the center said.

The mainland Monday reported 13 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said in its daily report yesterday.

Of the new local cases, 11 were reported in Heilongjiang and two in Fujian.

Also reported were 18 new imported cases, with 11 in Yunnan, three in Guangdong, two in Jiangsu, and one each in Tianjin and Hunan, the commission said. (Xinhua)