A Casino Filipino venue, located in Angeles city on the Philippine main island Luzon, was temporarily shut down from Friday, after three gaming employees at the venue tested positive for Covid-19, according to media reports.
Angeles city mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr said the nation’s gaming regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), had ordered the temporary closure of the casino (pictured in a file photo), reported the Philippine Inquirer newspaper.
Pagcor is an operator in its own right of venues under the Casino Filipino brand as well as a licensor gaming venues run by private-sector companies.
The report quoted the head of Pagcor, Andrea Domingo, as saying that the Casino Filipino at Angeles city had been shut down “for disinfection”. The venue is located in Pampanga province, in central Luzon. It was not clear from the media report when the gaming venue would be allowed to resume operations.
People who came in close contact with the infected employees at Casino Filipino “have been identified, isolated and would be tested for the virus,” said the media outlet. The infected casino workers have each been been assigned to a separate hospital for treatment.
Pagcor had previously said that licensed casinos in four places in the Philippines that are well away from Metro Manila had been allowed to reopen – with limited capacity – after sufficient easing locally of the lockdown rules designed to stem the national spread of Covid-19.
Casino complexes in the Metro Manila area, including the large-scale private sector sites of City of Dreams Manila, Okada Manila, Resorts World Manila and Solaire Resort and Casino, were shut down in mid-March. They remain so, due to a general community quarantine currently in place in Metro Manila and due to run at least until July 31.
Up to last week, most of the Philippines was placed under what is termed a modified general quarantine, the most relaxed phase of such measures. But some areas of the country returned to the general community quarantine rule due to rising numbers locally of Covid-19 infections.
Information carried on the website of the Philippine Department of Health indicated that the aggregate number of Covid-19 cases in the nation reached 67,456 as of Sunday. A total of 2,241 new cases had been reported as of that day.
The website further stated that 43,160 cases remained active, and a total of 1,831 people had died.
