In this Jan 22, 2020 file photo, visitors wear face masks as they walk outside the Venetian casino hotel resort in Macao. (ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)

Macao recorded three cases of COVID-19 infection caused by a novel coronavirus on Monday morning, taking the tally in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) to 24. 

The three infected people flew to Hong Kong international Airport from overseas and then transferred to Macao on a government-chartered bus

The three infected people flew to Hong Kong international Airport from overseas and then transferred to Macao on a government-chartered bus. 

The twenty-second person in the SAR to have contracted COVID-19 involved a 44-year-old Macao resident who flew from Dublin, Ireland to Frankfurt, Germany for a transfer flight to Hong Kong.

The twenty-third and twenty-fourth persons in the SAR to have contracted COVID-19 are two Macao students studying in the United Kingdom. The twenty-third patient is 12 years old and flew to Hong Kong from London on Friday. He was taken to a hotel after entering Macao for mandatory quarantine and developed a fever on Sunday. He was eventually confirmed to have COVID-19.  

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The twenty-fourth patient, a 21-year-old man, flew to Hong Kong from London on flight CX256 on Sunday. After reporting to Macao officials that he had a fever in the past 14 days, he was taken to hospital where he tested positive for COVID-19. 

Over the past weekend, Macao reported fresh COVID-19 infection in four people, all with travel history to foreign countries in the past 14 days. 

The Macao government said on Saturday that it would not rule out imposing quarantine on arrivals from Hong Kong where new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection are on the rise.

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At present, Hong Kong residents entering Macao are not subject to quarantine unless they have visited the Chinese mainland or foreign countries within the past 14 days.