Macau loosens casino capacity, entry requirements
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The Macau health authorities have scrapped guidelines regarding capacity limitations and entry restrictions at the city’s casinos, as part of its city-wide move to roll back existing countermeasures against Covid-19.
The guidelines have required operators to avoid overcrowding in their establishments. They have included: limiting the number of patrons and employees to 50-percent of assessed capacity; limiting the number of gaming tables allowed to operate; a restriction on the number of available seats at each table and slot machine; and a minimum 1-metre (3.3 feet) gap between gambling patrons.
Other requirements have included the performing of temperature checks on all guests and staff at venue entrances, and a need for guests and employees to wear protective face masks.
The guidelines, and last updated in October last year, have now been “deactivated”, according to a dedicated website of Macau’s Health Bureau.
Table game dealers, as well as security staff and cleaners working inside any casino, are now required to do a nucleic acid test or a rapid antigen test – typically a home-based test – every three days, proving their Covid-19 ‘negative’ status.
The latest easing covering the city’s casinos coincides with the local government relaxing to some extent its Covid-19 countermeasures, as Macau is entering a “new phase” in its approach to dealing with the pandemic, according to local officials.
Over the weekend, the Macau government announced that from Wednesday (December 14), individuals who are infected with Covid-19 – that are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms – will be permitted to isolate at home.
From Monday (December 12), people will only need to show their Macau-issued electronic health code at government departments, medical institutions, social service institutions, non-tertiary schools and educational institutions. The requirement to scan a venue’s QR code at casinos, restaurants and bars, is now at the discretion of the respective operator, stated the city’s health authorities.
Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre stated on Sunday that the city had identified 106 Covid-19 infections as of midnight on Saturday, 99 of them in the community. Of Saturday’s tally, 62 were classified as asymptomatic, according to the statement.
