Beijing: At least three Chinese cities put in place partial lockdowns and the gambling hub of Macao shut its casinos for the second time since the start of the pandemic, as authorities tried to stamp out the latest outbreaks. In mainland China, the cities of Xi’an, Lanzhou and Haikou imposed partial lockdowns, closing nonessential businesses and enforcing mass testing, setting restrictions on millions of residents.
In Macao, a semi-autonomous Chinese city, authorities also closed nonessential businesses, including its 42 casinos, which are the main drivers of the city’s economy, and asked residents to stay home except to buy food. The latest measures follow lockdowns in Shanghai and in Beijing where millions of people were confined to their homes earlier this year as China dealt with its biggest outbreak of the virus.
Macao’s 680,000 residents have been relatively sheltered from the virus. It has reported two deaths and fewer than 2,000 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic in 2020, according to government data. Until now, Macao had avoided shutting down the casinos, which were last closed in February 2020, for 15 days.
On Sunday, a health official in Shanghai said that the first case of an omicron subvariant, BA. 5. 2. 1, has been found in the city. The news triggered more mandatory testing orders for residents of several neighbourhoods.
