Diners Have Little Appetite For Govt Tracking Tool

Restaurants and businesses such as gyms and cinemas on Thursday started complying with a government order to tell customers to make use of the LeaveHomeSafe contact tracing app before entering their premises, although RTHK found that not everyone was happy with the new requirement.

The new rule comes as restaurants are allowed to extend their evening dine-in services past 6pm and many businesses are re-opening after months of closure due to the pandemic.

People who do not wish to use the government app, which involves scanning a QR code at each premises, can provide their personal information instead.

But one man, surnamed Shek, said he plans to order takeaway every day to avoid the need to hand over his details.

“It’s not just about that extra move that you do, like writing a paper or scanning the QR code. It’s the privacy, it’s the information that I don’t want to share,” he told RTHK’s Wong Yin-ting.

“That is hindering me from following the protocols of the government, because it’s all stupid,” he said.

A woman who had breakfast at a restaurant in Central said she would rather provide her contact details in writing.

“I think the registration is fine. I like the fact that the restaurant has the other option where I don’t have to scan the QR code, because I don’t have the app and I don’t plan to download the app,” she said.

Another man said he was not aware of the new requirement, but would comply if restaurant staff asked him to.

“Obviously it’s a new rule, probably better education and information and communication is required,” he said.

Another woman who refused to use the app was given a piece of blank paper to jot down her information, but she told RTHK that the waiter did not explain what she was supposed to write.

Authorities on Thursday said customers who order takeaway from restaurants would not be required to scan the code.