Health authorities in Singapore have added five confirmed cases of Covid-19 to a cluster of infections linked to the casino at the Marina Bay Sands resort, it was announced on Wednesday. As of that day, there was a total of 46 Covid-19 cases connected to the property’s casino.
The information disclosed by the Ministry of Health of the city-state did not provide detail on the five new cases, namely whether they were either people that worked on the gaming floor or gamblers that had visited the property recently.
The casino complex (pictured in a file photo) is operated by a subsidiary of international casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp.
The property said in a statement last week it was “temporarily closing” its casino for “deep cleaning” with effect from July 22. That was following detection of cases of Covid-19 infection involving individuals “who worked in or visited” the gaming venue, according to a separate statement at the time from Singapore’s Ministry of Health.
The gaming venue will be closed to the public until August 5. “We will update once a specific reopening time is confirmed,” stated the property’s promoter.
Marina Bay Sands said it had an “enhanced polymerase chain reaction testing regime for all team members working on property.” Routine testing “takes place every 14 or 28 days, based on job profiles and risk exposure,” it added.
Singapore is home to a casino duopoly, with the other casino complex – Resorts World Sentosa – operated by Genting Singapore Ltd. Management at the latter venue told GGRAsia last week that the property was to maintain “reduced guest capacity” for its gaming operations from July 22 until August 18. Capacity restrictions at Resorts World Sentosa would also apply to a number of non-gaming attractions, a spokesperson told GGRAsia.
As of 12pm on Wednesday, Singapore had preliminarily confirmed 130 new cases of locally-transmitted Covid-19 infection, and six imported cases. According to the Ministry of Health, there were 44 active clusters – including that linked to the Marina Bay Sands casino – with the various clusters ranging in size from three infections, up to 932 infections.
(Updated at 9.03am, July 29)
