Paradise City again shuts some non-gaming for virus safety

Jun 29, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Some non-gaming venues at the Paradise City casino resort (pictured) near Incheon International Airport in South Korea – including spaces that had closed initially due to Covid-19 and then reopened – are to be shuttered “temporarily” from Wednesday (July 1) “until further notice”, due to the pandemic.

The locations to be shut are: the Cimer spa, the Wonderbox theme park, the Chroma nightclub, and a boutique hotel called Art Paradiso including the restaurant Serasé, according to an online notice from the resort.

Paradise City said the move was in order to “participate” in the South Korean government’s “quarantine programme as well as to reduce and prevent Covid-19”.

Cimer, Wonderbox and Chroma had been among places closed earlier, according to a notice on the resort’s website in March.

“Regarding Covid-19, Paradise City is taking strict measures in hygiene and safety in all facilities based on the government’s social distancing scheme,” said the venue in its latest message.

Paradise City launched in 2017  with a hotel as well as a foreigner-only casino. The complex has gradually been adding non-gaming facilities since then. It is a venture between Paradise Co, a South Korean operator of foreigner-only casinos, and Japanese entertainment conglomerate Sega Sammy Holdings Inc.

Towards the end of the first quarter, Paradise Co had said it was closing down on March 24 its four casino sites for two weeks, in line with the country’s effort at curbing the further spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Korea. Some of the company’s non-gaming offerings – such as entertainment venues – were also closed at that time. The firm reopened its casino on Jeju island on April 13. It resumed operations at its remaining three gaming venues on April 20.

The website of South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare said on Monday that as of the stroke of midnight there had been a daily increase of 42 new Covid-19 cases. Since January 3, the country has had 12,757 cases, and 282 deaths.

On June 20, the nation saw a three-week high in the daily rise in cases – by 67 – according to the Associated Press news agency.

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