Macau: casinos to remain open despite Covid-19 cases

Ho Iat Seng, Macau’s Chief Executive, has said that despite cases of Covid-19 in the city, authorities won’t close casinos for now.

Macau.- The government of Macau has said that it won’t close casinos as a result of the detection of four community Covid-19 cases this week.

The cases led authorities to order the shut down of entertainment venues and to carry out mass testing. Police have cordoned the zone where the infected family lives and declared it a “red zone”.

Surrounding buildings have been declared a “yellow zone”. Only those displaying a negative nucleic acid test certificate for Covid-19 are allowed to enter, but they cannot leave the zones. Authorities hope the Covid-19 situation can be controlled within 14 days.

Ho Iat Seng, Macau’s Chief Executive, said casinos won’t have to shut for now “because the problem did not happen there.”

He also noted that if Macau cannot reach the MOP130bn (US$16.28bn) in GGR that it forecast for 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the government will revise its budget for the current fiscal year.

In July, Lei Wai Nong, Macau’s secretary for economy and finance, said Macau still expected GGR to reach MOP130bn (US$16.28bn) for 2021 despite lower than expected results in the first half.

Macau’s GGR grew 29 per cent in July at MOP8.44bn (US$1.05bn). Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd predicted that Macau’s GGR for August could be down 60 per cent compared to August 2019.

All visitors to Macau from any mainland Chinese city now need o hold a negative nucleic acid test certificate for Covid-19.