Authorities are preparing diagnostic tests for the hundreds of people there.
One hotel complex with casino located at Macauthe “World Gambling Capital”, entered today at quarantine from the beginning with 700 people inside because of the appearance a case of coronavirus in its premisesbroadcast the local television network TDM.
Lockdown was imposed at a time when this Chinese self-governing province performs mass diagnostic tests for two days in its population, which exceeds 600,000 inhabitants, after the appearance of dozens of cases of coronavirus due to transmission to the community and were recorded over the weekend.
Visual material that came into the possession of the television network shows police officers in protective uniforms sealing the band to prevent customers from leaving or entering its premises.
Also, government officials prepare diagnostic tests for the hundreds that are there.
“Fortuna”, located on the central peninsula of Macau, is one old tourist complex which is managed by SJM Holdings.
The manager of his casino is local businessman Sio Tak Hongwho was arrested last year on charges of corruption and money laundering.
The hotel and the government were not immediately available for comment.
The previous coronavirus outbreak in Macau was last October and the city had not been put on an extensive lockdown.
Dozens of cases have been reported since the weekend, but currently far fewer than the daily cases reported in neighboring areas, including Hong Kong where the number of cases has exceeded 1,000 in recent days.
THE former Portuguese colony which took over China in 1999 as a special administrative district follows the Chinese policy of “zero cases”, which aims to neutralize all outbreaks of the pandemic in every way, a policy contrary to that of most countries trying to coexist with the virus.
Most residents are invited to stay in their homes, restaurants do not serve customers and the border restrictions have been tightenedwhich means that casino revenue is likely to be zero for at least a week and possibly for the coming weeks, according to analysts.
This year the Hong Kong recorded over one million confirmed cases and more than 9,000 deaths, affecting hospitals and public services.
Officials there say they are unlikely to further tighten restrictions as pressure on medical services has not increased.
Macau has only one public hospital with its services already under pressure on a daily basis. Macao authorities plan to put the entire population to a diagnostic test as they keep open the border with mainland China with many residents living and working in the neighboring Chinese city of Zhuhai.
