Virus Closures Killing Economy, Zeman Warns

Entrepreneur Allan Zeman has urged the government to rethink its "suppress and lift" strategy to fight the coronavirus pandemic, warning that venue closures are killing the SAR's economy.

The chairman of the Lan Kwai Fong Group told RTHK's Hong Kong Today that bars had so far lost 145 days of trade this year, and he agreed with restaurant trade leaders that HK$30 billion of government cash was needed in a new round of relief measures.

Restaurants have been barred from serving dine-in customers after 6pm since earlier this month while bars are among a range of businesses forced to close due to an upsurge in Covid-19 cases.

"The government's idea of suppress and lift, to me, just doesn't work," Zeman told RTHK's Mike Weeks. "I know they listened to the health experts and I agree they have to, but there has to be economic experts as well.

"There has to be a balance between both if you're to keep the economy alive, because we'll have the healthiest people but nobody's going to have a job.

"Our suggestion is that you let businesses open and then if there's a cluster in a restaurant or bar or a club of whatever close it down for a week, sanitise it and then put people back to work again and that way the economy can continue."

The government said on Tuesday it hoped to submit a funding request to the Legislative Council before Christmas for new relief for businesses affected by the latest round of closures.