A study conducted by a group of researchers at the University of Macau (UM) and released last Friday, concluded that subjecting Macau to total confinement may have adverse consequences on social relations, access to health care, and may potentiate the emergence of family conflicts, depression, anxiety and even suicide. This, in addition to all the consequences that the closure of all activities, could bring to the economy.
“A reduction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is often used to reflect the loss associated with closure measures. However, there are many other negative or secondary effects, both tangible and intangible, that must be taken into account. Strict closure measures would have a profound impact on the maintenance of social ties and the accessibility of education and medical services, and may increase the risks of family conflict, depression, anxiety or even suicide, along with other serious mental disorders,” the study can read.
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In addition, it is pointed out, through “experiences that have taken place around the world,” a general confinement does not prevent the emergence of new outbreaks and can only be “fully effective” when transmissibility is high. At the moment, that is not the case in Macau, as only 0.2 percent of the population was infected last Friday.
