South Korea’s Kangwon Land casino extends virus shutdown

South Korea’s largest casino has extended its shutdown caused by the rampant spread of the country’s coronavirus infection rates.

Last month, the Kangwon Land casino announced that it was shutting its gaming operations starting February 23 and extending through February 26 due to “growing concern about community infections” of the COVID-19 virus. That shutdown was later extended to February 29 after the government declared its highest possible alert due to a dramatic spike in the number of infections.

On Friday, Kangwon Land announced that the extension would be extended again, this time until 6am on Monday, March 9. The brief announcement didn’t specify whether this latest extension was taken at its own behest or at the request/order of the South Korean government.

On Monday, the government announced nearly 600 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection, bringing its total infection count to 4,335, now officially the largest outbreak outside China. Of these infections, 26 individuals have died.