Macau: casinos must provide accommodation for employees

Workers from mainland China must remain in Macau as efforts to halt the Coronavirus outbreak intensify.

Macau.- The Macau government has said that all casino operators must provide accommodation for workers that live outside of the city in mainland China as part of efforts to prevent the Coronavirus outbreak from spreading further.

“Casino operators must provide this accommodation,” Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, said at a press conference.

According to the Secretary, most of the non-residents work in construction, catering, hotels and cleaning. “Macau has a large number of non-resident workers who work in Macau and live in China,” he noted.

The SAR has confirmed its first case of Coronavirus in a resident, taking the total number of cases to eight.

Authorities have determined that the best way to prevent the virus from spreading further is to make people stay in the city and prevent them from travelling to mainland China.

The government has said that operators must offer such workers accommodation or stop them from travelling to Macau from mainland China.

The secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Ao Ieong U, said that “the population must remain at home and avoid unnecessary exits.”

The eighth confirmed case of Coronavirus in Macau is a 64-year-old unemployed woman. She is currently in isolation, the New Coronavirus Contingency Coordination Center said in a statement.