Casino workers to be tested every second day

Casino workers are now required to undergo nucleic acid tests (NATs) every two days as authorities shortened the validity of their results from four days.

This measure also applies to front-line hotel workers amid the announcement that the city is planning to relax measures gradually, echoing Beijing’s move.

Workers including dealers, cleaning staff, and security guards working on casino premises are now required to submit their rapid antigen tests every two days along with their NAT results on the Health Code system.

Prior to this current Covid-19 outbreak, these workers were only required to undergo NAT once a week. This timeframe was shortened in response to the cases detected from late November.

On Tuesday, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong U, said that plans are underway to relax pandemic measures – a move long-awaited by the public. The city had been adhering to Beijing’s zero-Covid policy.

Yesterday, China relaxed rules on isolating people with COVID-19 and dropped virus test requirements for some public places. This has been a dramatic change to the previous strategy, which disrupted global manufacturing and trade as well as the lives of ordinary Chinese. Meanwhile, many nations have begun trying to live with the virus. LV