Federation Rejects Call To Shut Restaurants, Pubs

The president of the Federation of Restaurants has swatted aside calls for restaurants and pubs to shut down, saying there is no need as the rising number of cases has not led to a "pandemic situation" in Hong Kong yet.

Simon Wong also said that only very few customers are going out now and there is no real need to close restaurants or bars at the moment.

“You can see at nighttime, 80 or 90 percent of the restaurants have a drop of business. And that means actually there are not too many people in the restaurants,” said Wong, who heads the federation which says it represents more than 8,000 eateries.

“If the government educates people to distance themselves from each other, you would see that you couldn’t find any customer within a radius of three metres,” he claimed. “[So] I say there is no need at this moment for all restaurants and bars to close down in Hong Kong.”

Wong said that if the government goes ahead with the closure of restaurants and bars, it should be prepared to offer compensation to the catering industry.

He pointed out that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had announced that workers in the catering industry will be paid, to compensate them for their loss of salary.

But pressure was mounting on the government to place more restrictions on restaurants and pubs as the number of coronavirus cases recorded in the city showed a sharp increase in the last few days.

Executive councillor Lam Ching-choi said he and the four experts advising the government on the outbreak have agreed that restaurants and bars should be closed.

He told an RTHK radio show that bars and wedding banquets should be targeted first because they have been responsible for clusters of cases.

Lam also said the government could consider shortening the operating hours for public transport, to help curb the spread of the virus.

But Lam rejected a call for the city's borders to be closed to all visitors, saying government data so far shows no need for this.

Responding to calls for eateries and pubs to be shut, Commerce Secretary Edward Yau said the government needs to discuss this with the industry first.

He said the administration doesn't wish to be seen as implementing extreme steps, but at the same time, it needs to prepare for the worst. He said the government needs to strike a balance to ensure that life goes on despite the crisis.

He noted that many industries have already taken measures themselves, like restaurants offering delivery services, and cinemas requiring customers to sit a row apart from each other.