Do you remember the Macau casino shutdown? Well, lets take a quick trip not-so-far ago when government-led efforts to contain the outbreak of Covid in Macau have seen all the casinos in the region shut down and showrooms and nightclubs ordered to close.
Macau Casinos Closure
A range of other entertainment venues that did not offer essential services to the community was closed in July 2022 to curb ongoing incidents of deadly virus infections. As such, the police took a tough line on anyone caught having contact with any of these facilities. Everyone found guilty of violating the closure order or found to have visited any of these spots was taken into protective custody.
Only grocery stores, pharmacies, and medical facilities were allowed to stay open with heightened scrutiny on screening customers and employees.
Since June, more than 1,500 Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in Macau. Quarantine measures introduced meant that approximately 19,000 people were confined to their homes in the city, according to government figures furthermore thirty high-risk areas, where authorities enforced lockdown orders, were restricted from access by traveling public and foreigners. Although the authorities denied ordering a complete lockdown, the new restrictions disconnected Macau from the region.
Macau followed China’s “zero-Covid” policy, which sought to eradicate all infections.
February 2020 was the longest period of closure Macau casinos faced. For 15 consecutive days, all operations ceased amidst a spike in Covid-19 infections and increasing social unrest.
Earlier, the government was reluctant to shut down the city. They want to uphold their constitutional obligation of preserving the employment of the public and private workforce. The gaming revenue is estimated to have generated about 80% of the government’s income.
Mandatory Covid tests for the public bolstered outreach from the government. They just want to compel those who were exposed to the disease to seek treatment. Even though 90% of the city’s 600,000 population received the preventative vaccine. Macau had to deal with the emergence of Omicron, another virulent strain of the Covid 19 virus.
