Kangwon Land casino extends virus shutdown, losses to hit $22m

South Korea’s largest casino Kangwon Land is extending its temporary shutdown as the country’s coronavirus crisis worsens.

Last weekend, Kangwon Land announced that it would shut its gaming operations from noon on Sunday (23) to 6am on Wednesday (26) in response to the government’s declaration of its highest possible alert regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus.

On Tuesday, Kangwon Land announced that it was extending this shutdown until 6am on Saturday (29) “due to growing concern about community infections.” South Korea has experienced a dramatic rise in the number of viral infections this week, bringing the total number of exposures to nearly 1,300 and the number of deaths to 11, the largest outbreak outside China, the COVID-19 ground zero.

Kangwon Land emphasized that it had not recorded any infections among either guests or staff but said the company was “intensively” carrying out “additional protection and disinfection” of its gaming area to prepare for the casino’s eventual reopening.