Cinemas and other entertainment venues in Macao reopen in March

Some entertainment venues in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) have resumed operations since March 2, as no new confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in Macao for 28 consecutive days as of Tuesday (March 3).

Cinemas, theaters, karaoke stores, bars and some other entertainment venues reopened on the condition they obey four rules issued by the Macao SAR government, bringing hope to closed entertainment venues in other affected regions in Asia such as on the Chinese mainland, South Korea and Japan.

The rules require employees and customers wear masks at all times, including during fitness and dancing, and can only take masks off while eating and drinking. Anyone with a fever or cough are not allowed to enter the venues.

To avoid crowds, venues are recommended to accept half of the original approved passenger capacity. For customers, the distance between strangers should be more than one to two meters, especially for activities that take a longer time, such as watching movies.

The rules also stress strengthened personal and environmental hygiene, and limiting high-risk services.

Although officially opened, there were not many films available to watch, because the whole film industry was hit by the epidemic in Asia and many parts of the world.

Take some big cinemas in Macao for example, there are only several art films introduced by UA Galaxy Cinemas since January on screens currently.

Alegria Cinema have only three films available, all of which premiered before COVID-19 outbreak, and the earliest new film at Macau Tower will be released next week.

In the adjacent Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, although cinemas remain open, the ticketing system of most cinemas lock half of open seats to ensure filmgoers keep a distance while watching films.

And the number of moviegoers in Hong Kong has dropped by 81 percent compared with the same period last year, according to US film news outlet Deadline.