Macau safety measures will remain until vaccine available

The Macau health bureau says adjustments will only be considered after a vaccine against the novel coronavirus is available.

Macau.- Leong Iek Hou from the Macau Health Bureau has said authorities are not planning to ease safety measures for casino operations until the Covid-19 pandemic is under control.

Macau has not reported any new community transmitted cases in over 130 days, but still casinos are expected to follow protocols regarding sanitizing routines, social distancing, capacity limits, among others.

Leong mentioned potential adjustments would only be considered after a vaccine against the novel coronavirus is available.

Protocols imposed after the lockdown on February 20 have halved casino’s gaming capacities.

The Health Bureau also stated that if new Covid-19 cases are detected, especially now that tourism visas will be reinstated, it is not likely that casinos will be immediately shut down.

In that case, the authorities said the plan is to implement community restrictions and to define the affected areas as “medium” or “high risk” for Covid-19.

They said :“That doesn’t mean that if a local case occurs – one which is not related with casinos – we will immediately close [gaming venues].”

In such scenario the authorities will first assess the risk to public health. They also mentioned that testing for casino workers will resume today (Thursday).