Australia in lockdown again
Star Sydney closed its doors last Friday as health measures against COVID-19 were reinstated in New South Wales. The casino plans not to operate for a fortnight and three casinos in Queensland will also take a break, but not for long. Brisbane Treasury, The Star Gold Coast and The Ville Resort-casino will close for just three days, starting today. The facilities were originally expected to only reduce their operations. In the meantime, the online casinos continue to operate and are very popular with players, see the website for details.
The Queensland government has brought back measures to control COVID-19 in response to what has been called the Bondi cluster, an outbreak of cases that has emerged in the Sydney suburb of Bondi. As of yesterday, more than 100 cases had been reported and new cases are being reported across Australia. In addition to Queensland casinos, Mindil Beach Casino Resort will close until July 2 in response to a closure order imposed in its home state of the Northern Territory.
How to catch COVID-19 before it spreads
Government and health officials are hoping that the short break will give contact tracers enough time to identify any other carriers or infections before Australia reaches critical levels. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says: "With the new Delta strain now present in the Queensland community, we can't afford to take any chances. This highly contagious strain means we only have to do a three-day isolation in South East Queensland, Townsville and Palm Island. I am asking all Queenslanders and all visitors to these affected areas to observe the quarantine - it is absolutely essential to ensure the safety of us all."
As if Crown Resorts didn't already face enough bad news, it also has to adjust its operations again. It has been forced to retreat at its Crown Sydney hotel, suspending food and beverage service and closing its conference facilities. Crown Melbourne has been a little luckier, having recently emerged from the quarantine regime it was forced to impose at the end of May. Social distancing measures are now back in place, with slot machines and table games separated by a distance of five feet. The capacity limits have also been reduced.