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Macau to Shut Casinos Till Friday, Extend Lockdown

The lockdown in the Chinese special administrative region was due to end on Monday


People stand near Casino Lisboa in Macao
People stand near Casino Lisboa, amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Since last Monday, Macau shuttered the city's economic engine - its casinos - and forbade residents from leaving apartments, except for essential activities. Photo: John Mak, Reuters

 

Macau will extend its lockdown imposed since last Monday till Friday as authorities grapple with rising Covid-19 infections in the world’s biggest gambling hub.

The lockdown in the special administrative region was due to end on Monday.

Since last Monday, Macau shuttered the city’s economic engine – its casinos – and forbade residents from leaving apartments, except for essential activities.

Macau has recorded around 1,700 Covid infections since mid-June.

More than 20,000 people are in mandatory quarantine as the government adheres to China’s zero-Covid policy.

More than 90% of Macau’s 600,000 residents are fully vaccinated but this is the first time the city has had to grapple with the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

The former Portuguese colony has only one public hospital, and its medical system was already stretched before the coronavirus outbreak.

Authorities have set up a makeshift hospital in a sports dome near the city’s Las Vegas-style Cotai strip and have around 600 medical workers assisting them.

Neighbouring Hong Kong is starting to loosen draconian restrictions even as daily cases top 3,000, in a push to reboot the financial hub.

 

  • Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard

 

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Jim Pollard

Jim Pollard is an Australian journalist based in Thailand since 1999. He worked for News Ltd papers in Sydney, Perth, London and Melbourne before travelling through SE Asia in the late 90s. He was a senior editor at The Nation for 17+ years and has a family in Bangkok.

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