'Restaurants Paying The Price For Govt Failure'

Gordon Lam, the head of the Small and Medium Restaurant Federation, said restaurants now have to “pay the price” for the government’s failure to curb the epidemic, while a lawmaker said another round of relief may be needed for the ailing sector.

As the number of locally infected coronavirus cases jumped in the last three days, the government has unveiled new curbs for the sector, such as limiting the number of people at each restaurant table to eight, while no more than four could be seated in a bar together. The restrictions are to take effect from Saturday. 

Lam said from the beginning of May there was growth and the sector entered a recovery period, but now that there is a third wave of coronavirus infections, many in the sector are worried this will affect business.

The government had imposed strict restrictions on restaurants and shut down bars after the coronavirus outbreak here peaked in March. Most of the curbs were eased over a period of time and by the end of June, bars and pubs were allowed to reach 80 percent of capacity.

Lam called on the industry to do their best to curb the spread by wearing masks and cleaning thoroughly.

Catering sector lawmaker Tommy Cheung also said the new curbs will be a setback, and the administration will need to look at helping the sector again.

“The gains we had made in the last two, three weeks since the Father's Day... this is going to hurt. Let us hope this is not going to hurt for too long,” he said.

Cheung said he had heard reports that a few restaurants had already seen cancellations after new local cases started to emerge in recent days.

He said if the situation persists, the authorities should come up with proposals for a third round of relief for the sector, and see how quickly they can be implemented.