Macau Extends City-Wide Lockdown Amid Struggle to Contain Covid

Macau will extend a city-wide shutdown as the gaming hub struggles to contain its worst ever Covid-19 outbreak, prolonging the plight of casinos which are burning through millions of dollars every day and earning no revenue. All non-essential businesses are required to remain close through July 22, authorities said in a statement Saturday, extending measures that began July 11 and were initially due to last a week. The government will allocate another 10 billion patacas ($1.24 billion) to fund alleviation programs for those affected by the outbreak, it said in a separate statement. Macau reported 31 infections for Saturday, suggesting the lockdown wasn’t enough to stop local transmission.