Macau is undergoing one of its worst COVID-19 outbreaks. In fact, the special administrative region managed to withstand the highly-infectious virus for the past two years, but the disease has resurfaced, claiming lives and now reaching 1,215 cases as of the time of reporting. New data is processed all the time. This has forced the government to makeshift two Macau casino resorts into quarantine zones.
Macau Adds Two More Hotels to Quarantine Areas
The properties will serve as a precautionary area where suspected infections and contact persons of already diagnosed patients will be put for observation to ensure that the disease has smaller chances of spreading. Grand Lisboa Palace offers 470 of its hotel rooms. The B1 Tower at Grand Hyatt Macau with 300 rooms is also now used for the same purpose.
Macau Government Tourism Office Lau Fong Chi confirmed the news on Thursday and said that effective on Friday, July 8, the measure will be enforced. The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center continues to monitor the situation and issue recommendations in real time based on the available data.
The latest properties join Sheraton Grand Macao and The Parisian Macao Hotel which have both been converted into quarantine zones, with a cumulative of 2,300 rooms. So far, 504 people are quarantined at the Grand Lisboa, along with 260 general staff and 200 casino floor workers, along with 30 hotel guests.
In the meantime, Macau has released the new re-tendering rules which have to be met in order for any of the six concessionaires to acquire an extension of their gaming license for the next ten years come January 1, 2023.
Macau Buckling Down for a Long Fight
This comes only two weeks after Macau’s legislative assembly passed the new gambling laws which focus on overhauling the entire industry, from junket operators to satellite casinos, to new licensing conditions and concessionaire obligations.
A particular focus has been put on overseas tourism, but with the COVID-19 pandemic and China’s intransigent zero-COVID policy, Macau is a long way from making a recovery any time soon. Even though Macau seems likely to dodge the impact of a global recession, it has a much more serious problem to yet deal with at home.