Govt Has To Help Businesses Weather Pandemic: Zeman

Prominent businessman, Allan Zeman, called on the government to help businesses through the pandemic.

Under a raft of new measures announced on Monday, the government said face masks would be mandatory for people taking public transport, 12 types of venues, including bars, cinemas and gyms, will be closed for up to seven days., and the number of people allowed to gather will be reduced sharply from 50 to four.

And to try to prevent the virus from spreading in restaurants, no dining in will be allowed from 6pm to 5am. Only take-aways will be allowed during that period.

Speaking after the measures were announced, Zeman said the government should not only help restaurants pay their staff in the current "employment support scheme", but should also offer other financial assistance to keep them afloat.

"It's not just paying staff but rent is a big component of restaurant business and also you have many other bills to pay so I think something along the lines of what went on before I think will help a lot," Zeman said.

He said the government needed to look at how to compensate businesses.

"It needs to be something that will at least keep the restaurants in business otherwise you will have many, many more people on the street looking for a job," Zeman said.

Under an existing package, the Carrie Lam administration rolled out a HK$137 billion package of measures to help businesses stay afloat and workers receive their salaries during the pandemic, with MTR fares also coming down and taxpayers allowed to delay paying their bills.

However, critics say the government's existing economic help didn't always reach the workers or the companies who most needed it.