Gyms, Party Rooms Slam 'unfair' Covid-19 Curbs

Businesses that would remain closed despite easing social-distancing rules have cried foul, questioning why only certain types of establishments such as cinemas and beauty salons are allowed to reopen from Friday.

Groups representing workers of gyms and party rooms told an RTHK radio programme on Wednesday that the government's move doesn't make sense, and questioned the criteria used to determine which businesses could reopen.

The president of the Hong Kong Party Room Association, Lam Hong-yin, said it's not fair to allow beauty salons, but not party rooms, to resume operations.

Lam said the authorities failed to reach out to the sector to understand the difficulties they're facing or discuss measures to help the sector resume business as soon as possible.

Lam said he felt beauty parlours pose a greater health risk than party rooms, because party rooms require guests to make reservations and it will be easier to carry out contact tracing if someone does get infected.

Ray Or, convenor of the Fitness and Combat Sports Alliance, echoed that sentiment. He said beauty parlours were more high risk because beauticians are in close contact with guests.

He also expressed disappointment that only some outdoor sports venues would be allowed to re-open.

Or said that allowing people to ditch their face masks when doing strenuous exercise outdoors doesn't help the industry much because the sector can't hold outdoor classes amid the ban of gatherings of more than two people and it's too hot for people to exercise outdoors.

He said that in the past few months, a number of gyms and fitness centres have been forced to close down due to a lack of income. He called on the government to do more to encourage landlords to reduce rents as only a few of them are willing to do so.

And while the catering sector has welcomed the extended restaurant dining hours, some have said that suggested additional hygiene measures – such as having dedicated people to clean tables, serve food, and do deliveries to protect the health of diners – would be difficult to enforce.

Raymond Chui from the Institution of Dining Art said business should be quite good for restaurants this weekend thanks to the extended dine-in hours.

But he also said it will be difficult for some eateries, especially smaller ones, to take extra anti-epidemic measures.

Meanwhile, Professor David Hui, who's advising the government on its epidemic response, said officials have struck a balance in their social-distancing policies by extending dining-in hours until 9pm while keeping in place the two-person per table limit.