Govt Making People Pay For Its Mistakes: Gym Owners

Fitness centres owners say the government is making businesses pay for its failure to curb the coronavirus outbreak by ordering them to close.

Ray Or, the convenor of the Fitness and Combat Sports Alliance, said on Wednesday that its members had worked hard to maintain hygiene and social-distancing measures.

"But it's all useless," he told RTHK.

The government has ordered that a number of venues, including gyms, beauty and massage parlours and sports facilities are to be closed from Thursday for two weeks, to reduce the flow of people in the city.

But, Or said he expects the closure to be extended beyond two weeks. He said small businesses including those in his sector are paying rent for a whole year but could only open for around eight months because of wave after wave of outbreaks.

"We the little people are always bearing the painful consequences of the government's policy mistakes."