GGRAsia – Relaunch of Paradise City non-gaming at risk on Covid wave

Relaunch of Paradise City non-gaming at risk on Covid wave

Jul 09, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

A test reopening due on Saturday of some non-gaming facilities at Paradise City (pictured), a resort at Incheon, South Korea, with a foreigner-only casino, has been cancelled due to so-called Level 4 social distancing rules being introduced for Incheon and the nearby national capital, Seoul, amid an uptick in Covid-19 cases.

That is according to a telephone enquiry to Paradise City on Friday by GGRAsia.

A decision will be made next week on how to proceed regarding the planned July 16 general reopening of non-gaming facilities at Paradise City, according to the venue’s representative.

The national government introduced Level 4 due to an uptick in Covid-19 cases at Incheon and Seoul. The alert means casinos must shut at 10pm.

A representative of Paradise Co Ltd – which also runs the Paradise Walkerhill casino hotel in Seoul – said the firm would discuss over the weekend what implications if any, the Level-4 move would have for casino operations.

Paradise City – near Incheon International Airport – announced on its website on Tuesday that South Korean quarantine authorities had informed the property on Tuesday (July 6) that one of Paradise City’s recent hotel guests – resident from June 28 for four days – had subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.

The website posting said that the authorities had said there was “no problem” in terms of ongoing use of the hotel accommodation and resort, as Paradise City had followed necessary protocols on Covid-19 countermeasures.

On Thursday, a Paradise City representative had clarified, after a telephone enquiry from GGRAsia, that the Covid-19 case in an on-site hotel had not affected casino operations, as the patient was a local, and therefore not allowed to enter Paradise City’s gaming facilities.

As of 12am on Friday, South Korea had recorded 1,316 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, a new daily record, since the first case reported in South Korea on January 20, 2020. Friday’s data took the confirmed tally to 165,344, including 2,036 deaths, according to the country’s Ministry of Health and Welfare.