MACAO, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Macao will shut down all casinos for half a month due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the chief executive of the Special Administrative Region (SAR) Ho Iat Seng said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Macao has reported a total of 10 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection. Among them, seven cases were visitors from Wuhan, and the other three cases were Macao residents.

In order to strengthen the prevention and control of the epidemic, the SAR government decided to suspend all casinos for half a month, considering the ninth confirmed case, a female, has worked in a casino after she had been infected by the virus.

Ho added that based on Macao's economic capacity, the SAR could afford the possible losses caused by the shutdown.