Macau shuts most businesses amid COVID outbreak

STORY: Thousands of people in China's Macau lined up for Covid testing on Monday (June 20).

The world's biggest gambling hub reported dozens of locally transmitted cases over the weekend.

Most businesses have shut, but casinos will remain open.

Most of the territory's 600,000 residents have been told to stay at home and border restrictions have been tightened.

Shares of Macau casinos tumbled on Monday morning with some falling as much as 8%.

Macau's government relies on casinos for over 80% of its income.

Most of the population is employed directly or indirectly by the industry.

In a statement, Macau's chief executive Ho Iat Seng said the outbreak had come suddenly and was spreading rapidly.

Its source is still unknown.

Macau only has one public hospital and its services are already stretched on a daily basis.

The former Portuguese colony plans to test its entire population by Tuesday (June 21) as it adheres to China's strict zero-covid policy of attempting to eradicate all outbreaks.