RWS Casino Refutes Claims By Lianhe Zaobao, Says Covid-19 Patient Did Not Serve Wuhan Guests
UPDATE (13 Feb, 9.56am): A representative from Resorts World Sentosa Casino has refuted claims by Lianhe Zaobao that the employee with Covid-19 had served Wuhan guests in a VIP room.
Below is their statement.
The reports quoted an unnamed source working in the RWS casino stating that the employee who has contracted COVID-19 had served guests from Wuhan in the gaming salon a few days before he displayed symptoms. RWS has investigated this claim and found it to be false. At no time did this 35-year-old RWS croupier serve Wuhan guests in the gaming salon in the few days prior to displaying symptoms.
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On Tuesday (11 Feb), the Ministry of Health announced 2 more confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus — now known as Covid-19.
2 New Coronavirus Cases In S’pore On 11 Feb, One Works At Resorts World Sentosa Casino
One of the cases was a 35-year-old male Singapore permanent resident (PR) who works at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) Casino.
The next day, Lianhe Zaobao released an exclusive article with more information on the man’s activities days before testing positive for the virus.
Covid-19 patient who worked at RWS Casino was on 2 days MC
According to the Chinese publisher, the man was apparently on MC for 2 days from 5-6 Feb as he was down with a fever.
He resumed work on 7 Feb but wasn’t allowed into the casino on 9 Feb after temperature scanners showed he was running a fever.
When interviewed by Lianhe Zaobao, an RWS casino employee shared that the patient had been working there for at least 5 years.
Prior to falling sick on 9 Feb, the man reportedly served Wuhan guests in a casino VIP room.
Wuhan group visited Singapore before city was on lockdown
The same employee told Lianhe Zaobao that the group of Wuhan visitors arrived in Singapore before CNY — prior to when the Chinese government placed the Hubei capital on lockdown.
They allegedly stayed at an RWS Hotel and visited the casino whenever they had time to spare.
The 35-year-old patient reportedly travels to and fro Singapore and JB daily via motorbike.
While chances of spreading the virus during commute are low, the employee interviewed express concern about contracting the virus in the casino.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, the staff entrance to the RWS casino is situated away from the main entrance where visitors would enter from.
The clinic that the patient visited – Parkway Shenton – has also closed for “deep cleaning” from 11-13 Feb.
Hope contact tracing is done promptly to contain the spread
Even though Lianhe Zaobao had reported their findings, RWS Casino has reached out and denied these claims after their own investigation, saying that information was false.
That said, what’s most important moving forward is that contact tracing is properly carried out to identify those that he came into contact with, to curb the spread of the virus.
Featured image adapted from Wikipedia.
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