During a press conference on Saturday, the Macau government lifted the mandatory health code entry requirement for all Macau establishments other than government departments, hospitals, social service institution (including nurseries) and non-higher education schools. But as of today (Monday), Macau casinos were still requiring members of the public to show their health codes when entering.
IAG visited several casinos on Monday, including Grand Lisboa, Wynn Macau and MGM Macau, all of which required visitors to show their health codes, with Grand Lisboa and Wynn Macau even requiring visitors to scan venue codes. Health codes were even required to enter retail mall areas.
One casino employee told IAG, “The government does not require it, but the government has told the casinos that if anything happens, the casino has to take responsibility for it, so many places are maintaining the health code measure.”
Despite this advice, IAG understands that at least two concessionaires in Macau were keen to immediately remove the health code entry requirement at their casinos but both were informed by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) that this requirement needed to stay in place, even though the Health Bureau has abolished it. Given standard DICJ operating procedure, it’s likely this advice has been given to all six Macau casino concessionaires.
No doubt after nearly three years of pandemic restrictions severely impacting Macau’s casinos, operators are desperate to lift restrictions as quickly as possible. IAG therefore this morning contacted the DICJ for confirmation of whether the DICJ has forced operators to maintain health code scanning for entry, despite the advice of the Macau Health Bureau it is no longer required. IAG has not yet received a reply as at the time of publishing.
During the Saturday press conference, the Macau government also substantially relaxed its other COVID-19 restrictions, marking the beginning of the end for the “zero-COVID” era.
However, some government departments suddenly stepped up their epidemic prevention measures on Monday. Anyone entering the Court of First Instance will now be required to undergo RAT testing and wear a KN95 mask, and all public officials are required to do daily RAT testing and wear KN95 masks.
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