Marina Bay Sands Covid Cluster Now Up To 32 Cases
According to Singapore Health Authorities, 7 new Covid 19 cases have been confirmed as part of the Marina Bay Sands Casino resort. As of Sunday, the total went up to 32.
However, they have still not disclosed whether the cases are from gamblers who visited the property or the gaming floor staff.
Along with other clusters, the ministry stated that there were 25 active ones, ranging from three infections to up to 792. They said they had recorded 177 new locally transmitted cases and 8 foreign cases since the fresh rise in Covid transmissions started.
As a mitigation strategy, the Ministry of Health said it is conducting special testing operations for all Marina Bay Sands casino staff. They also agreed to extend free COVID-19 testing kits to the public members who visited the casino between July 7 and July 21.
The Marina Bay Sands casino is operated by Sands China Ltd, a subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands Corp, a US-based casino group.
Early last week, the group announced that it would be closing the venue temporarily for deep cleaning after the first cases were detected among people who had recently visited the casino. It will, however, remain closed to the public till August 5.
Singapore has reverted to phase 2(heightened alert) to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Many venues are now following the directive of 25% capacity operations until August 18.
This includes MBS’s main competitor, Resorts World Sentosa, operated by Genting Singapore Ltd. The resort website earlier announced a “reduced guest capacity,” allowing only two players per table. Also, bets from standing players would not be permitted.
Resorts World Sentosa has not yet recorded a new cluster and thus remains open. Gaming analysts had just recently projected an increase in revenue following the reopening of gaming activity. It is yet to be seen how the new developments will affect these projections.
