is still unknown, it was reported that those cases were traced to a prison worker and a butcher who frequently travelled between the casino hub and the neighbouring chinese city of zhuhai. the discovery of these cases prompted the government to institute movement restrictions akin to mainland china's zero-covid policy. these restrictions, imposed on 23 june, included the closure of schools, entertainment venues, public dining, and other non-essential businesses; the closure of the city's border with mainland china; a three-day mandatory mass testing program for its entire population; and asking residents to stay home. while it did not close its iconic casinos—by far the biggest source of revenue for the city—shares of macau's casino operators fell on 20 june on fears that covid-19 restrictions would negatively impact the casinos' revenues in the near term. on 21 june, macau authorities locked down a hotel and casino resort with 700 people inside because of a covid-19 outbreak in the complex. the lockdown, which barred entry to or exit from the property, was enforced by police officers wearing protective equipment. on 4 july, macau reported its first two deaths from covid-19, becoming one of the last regions in the world to report their first deaths from the virus. the deaths consisted of a 94-year-old and a 100-year-old, both of whom died the previous day and had underlying medical conditions. on 9 july, macau authorities ordered harsher movement restrictions as the outbreak grew. effective 11 july, all businesses—excluding essential services such as supermarkets—must shut down, and residents cannot leave their homes except for essential activities or jobs. everyone outside their homes must wear masks, but adults must wear n95 (or equivalent) masks. this lockdown marked the second time macau shut all its casinos amid the pandemic, the first being in february 2020. the lockdown measures, which had been set to expire on 18 july, were extended until 22 july. as new cases continued to decline from their peak in late june, macau officials announced on 20 july that casinos and some other essential businesses would be allowed to reopen at limited capacity effective 23 july. from 24 july, all macau residents were ordered to self-test for covid-19 and report their test results to the government each day through july 31 in an attempt to keep new covid-19 cases at a near-zero level. after recording no new local cases of covid-19 for nine consecutive days and over 14 rounds of mass testing, macau officials announced on 1 august that dining at restaurants and bars, fitness centres, salons, and entertainment venues would be allowed to reopen effective 2 august. however, patrons would be required to show a negative nucleic acid covid-19 test taken within the past 72 hours as a condition for entry to those businesses. quarantine-free travel from zhuhai to macau also resumed on august 3 at 6 p.m. local time, but travellers must provide a negative nucleic acid test taken within the past 24 hours and take two additional tests during the first three days of arrival. the news of the reopening came as macau's gaming inspection and coordination bureau reported that casinos raked in 398 million patacas (us$49 million) in july, a 95% drop year-over-year and the smallest revenue earned since record-keeping began in 2009. more than three months after reporting its last new covid-19 case, on october 30, macau ordered mgm china's cotai casino resort closed after several cases were detected in the property. the 1,500 people who were there were ordered to stay inside until november 1. in addition, the territory mandated daily rapid antigen testing through november 1 and a pcr test on the last day for the entire population. the same day, china's national immigration administration reopened electronic visa applications for mainland residents who wish to travel to macau after two and a half years. controversies free medical treatment for patients from mainland china at a press conference in february 2020, ho iat seng welcomed mainland chinese people to make use of macau's free medical service. this created controversy online, with users worrying that people from the mainland would come to macau and spread the virus. afterwards, secretary for administration and justice cheong weng chon (張永春) said that any patients from outside macau who had covid-19 would need to pay their own medical bills; they would be able to apply for a fee waiver, and the government would make a decision based on their financial situation and effects on the public. the first recovered patient was a businesswoman from wuhan. the health bureau stated that medical fees for people from outside macau were double the fees for locals. the patient had applied to waive 34,000 patacas in medical fees. internet users investigated and said that in the photos of her leaving the hospital, a handbag could be seen worth 20,000 patacas, and that the hotel she stayed at was more than 1000 patacas a night, concluding that she could afford the medical fees. this created a significant controversy. the bureau said they would make a determination in accordance with the law. while in the hospital, the first confirmed patient requested hot dry noodles, a dish from wuhan, so the hospital specially arranged a hubei chef. when leaving the hospital there were more expenses, causing locals to envy the patient's "five-star service". this caused controversy on the internet in both macau and hong kong. the director of conde s. januário hospital lei wai seng (李偉成) said that the hospital's goal is not to provide special meals to patients, but rather that nutrition is important for a patient's recovery; an inadequate nutrition would hinder recovery. he emphasised that all patients are treated equally with respect to meals, and that the cost of meals is included in the hospital bill. closing the border when guangdong became the province with the second-most cases in china, macau still had tens of thousands of people going to and from zhuhai every day. many people asked for the border to be closed, but the government repeatedly said that a complete closure was not possible. ho iat seng said, "if we closed all the ports of entry, who would remove the trash? who would handle security? how would we get fresh produce? these are the issues we're thinking about." closing parks in february 2020, in order to prevent spread of the virus, the government announced that all country parks and municipal parks would be closed, to avoid crowds and reduce the risk of infection. some residents were unhappy with this, feeling that the risk of transmission in the suburbs was very low, and that staying at home for a long time without going outside to exercise would increase the risk of other diseases. the center for disease control and prevention said that railings and similar could become a mode of transmission, that it's difficult to wear a mask when exercising, and that it's easy to end up starting a conversation if you run into a friend; these could all increase the risk of transmitting the virus. the government decided to close public recreation facilities in order to avoid community transmission. on 17 february, the government announced that casinos would reopen starting 20 february, but at the same time warned that the epidemic remained serious and advised residents to stay home and avoid going out. in addition, public parks and other public facilities would remain closed. in response, some residents questioned whether these measures and recommendations were contradictory, saying sarcastically that the government doesn't let people go to the park to exercise but does let them go to the casino to gamble. the government responded that after an evaluation, the decision to reopen casinos was made to balance the needs of epidemic prevention and local workers' employment. when the casinos reopened, epidemic prevention measures would be required to protect the health of employees and guests. in addition, the government announced on 19 february that some parks would reopen.