Macau casino shares yesterday plunged as the Chinese territory embarked on a week-long lockdown to curb its worst COVID-19 outbreak, while neighboring Hong Kong said it was mulling a mainland-style health code system.
Share prices of six gaming conglomerates — Sands China, Galaxy Entertainment, SJM Holdings, Melco International, MGM China and Wynn Macau — fell by between 6 and nearly 9 percent in yesterday morning trade.
It is the first casino lockdown in more than two years, overriding a previous deal between the industry and the Macau government that only those found with infections would need to close temporarily.
Photo: Reuters
Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub, is the only place in China where casinos are legal, but the COVID-19 pandemic has hammered its fortunes as it adheres to Beijing’s “zero COVID-19” model.
While casinos have remained open throughout most of the pandemic they have seen a fraction of pre-COVID-19 business.
A Bloomberg gauge of the territory’s six licensed casino operators is down 20 percent this year.
Authorities announced a week of lockdowns starting yesterday after recording more than 1,500 infections in the past three weeks despite multiple rounds of compulsory mass testing of Macau’s 650,000 people.
All residents must stay home except to go shopping for daily necessities and to get tested for the virus, with rule-breakers facing up to two years in jail.
Some public services and businesses such as supermarkets and pharmacies can stay open, and only people with special permission or a low-risk health code can use public transportation.
China uses mandatory health code apps to trace people’s movements and COVID-19 outbreaks. Only those with green codes can move freely.
It is a system that Hong Kong’s government is now considering employing, Hong Kong Secretary of Health Lo Chung-mau (盧寵茂) said yesterday.
“So-called freedom can sometimes be easily confused with selfishness,” Lo told public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong.
“Infected people should not have the freedom to go wherever they want and affect our health,” he added.
Hong Kong is being remolded in the authoritarian mainland’s image after huge democracy protests three years ago.
The territory has hewed to a lighter version of the “zero COVID-19” model, which has battered the economy and left Hong Kong internationally cut off for more than two years.
The newly installed administration of Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (李家超), a former security official, has vowed to stamp out infections and restart travel to the mainland and outside world.
To do that, authorities might need to deploy more mainland-style mass monitoring of the population.
Hong Kong currently uses a less restrictive mobile phone app than the mainland one, which keeps a resident’s vaccination record and is used to check into businesses and venues.
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS