'Some Restaurants Getting Too Relaxed About Rules'

The president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, Simon Wong, warned on Monday that some eateries are dropping their guard as the sector started seeing a rebound in business as some restrictions were eased from last week.

Wong said that businesses for the city's eateries have returned to around 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels in the past weekend after authorities said anti-epidemic policies would be eased to allow four people per table and extend restaurant dining till 10pm.

But he told an RTHK radio programme that some eateries have failed to stick to some anti-epidemic regulations as required such as checking customers' temperatures at the door, exceeding 50 percent of their seating capacity, or not having a distance of 1.5 metres between tables or guests.

Wong said he feels the violations have become common among restaurants over the past few days because people are excited to eat out amid the eased curbs, which has resulted in overcrowding in many areas.

He expressed concern that there could be a rebound in the number of Covid-19 cases in the SAR, and urged restaurant staff to not become too relaxed with enforcing social distancing measures, and to maintain vigilance until the pandemic is under control.

He told RTHK’s Candice Wong that while he would like to see more social distancing measures eased if the number of recorded Covid-19 cases stays low, the first priority should be controlling the pandemic.

“We are in a very critical situation, even though the government has made some relaxation on the measures, we should not take this for granted,” Wong said.