Hong Kong Disneyland shut down for a day on Wednesday after a visitor tested positive for Covid-19, just weeks after Shanghai Disneyland temporarily shuttered over a single case, in a sharp contrast to the U.S., where Disney's theme parks have lifted social distancing measures and remained.
Visitors take selfies at Hong Kong Disneyland.
The Associated Press.
Hong Kong Disneyland closed Wednesday out of an abundance of caution so that affected employees could be tested for Covid-19, which was reported by CNN.
The Hong Kong government ordered visitors to the theme park to take a Covid-19 test by Thursday.
It is less than three weeks after a visitor at Disneyland tested positive for Covid-19 and the attraction was closed for several days.
The theme park guests and staff were locked inside on October 31 after it was discovered that everyone could be tested.
Theme parks in Hong Kong and mainland China require mask-wearing, temperature checks and physical distance to eliminate coronaviruses.
Disney has relaxed some of its social distancing measures at its parks in recent months. Disney requires its U.S. employees to have vaccines. When local cases in Florida and California have surged, the parks have remained open, even after Disney World and Disneyland reopened in July 2020 and April 2021. Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in an August earnings call that the U.S. parks would continue reopening and expanding their capacity despite the rise in cases.
Critics.
Some in the business community are not happy with Hong Kong's measures to control the spread of Covid-19. The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong resigned on Monday, after the CEO of JP Morgan Chase said that Hong Kong's strictQuarantine policies were making it harder for his company to retain talent there.
Hong Kong Disneyland has been open since February, but has been temporarily closed due to the Covid-19 epidemic. The first Disney theme park to close due to the Pandemic was in January 2020 and the first to reopen in May of that year as cases in China went down. In June of this year, Disney theme parks in the US, Japan, and France reopened after being closed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Disney's theme park revenue plunged as a result of the closures, with operating income in its Parks, Experiences and Products division going down by $ 6.9 billion in fiscal year 2020 as compared with the year before. Disney's theme park division will become profitable in the third quarter of 2021, the first time since the outbreak of the Pandemic, as revenue starts to rebound.
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Coverage and live updates on the coronaviruses.
