Coronavirus: Hong Kong’s restaurant, gym owners push for more relaxed rules in exchange for making ‘Leave Home Safe’ app compulsory

Top restaurant industry figure predicts financial hit for sector, suggesting government extend operating hours or per-table seating limits for those forced to use the app

New mandate, in effect from December 9, is likely to pose biggest challenge for Type A eateries, the only restaurants currently not required to take patron information at all

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Hongkongers use the ‘Leave Home Safe’ app to enter a restaurant in Admiralty on Wednesday. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 2:55pm, 24 Nov 2021Updated: 8:45pm, 24 Nov 2021

Hong Kong business leaders now required to demand use of the city’s coronavirus contact-tracing app for entry to their restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues are urging the government to give them something in return – loosened restrictions.

Simon Wong Kit-Lung, chairman of the Institution of Dining Art, on Wednesday complained that demanding patrons use the “Leave Home Safe” app would mean a significant financial hit for the sector.

“[Since] residents are taking a step forward, some restrictions should be relaxed,” he said, suggesting an extension of legal operating hours or the freedom to seat more diners per table, now capped at four for non-vaccinated customers.

The business community’s concerns over the mandate emerged as Hong Kong confirmed one fresh imported Covid-19 infection, an eight-year-old girl from South Korea. The new arrival took the city’s overall tally to 12,411 cases, with 213 related deaths.

Hong Kong health authorities a day earlier announced the mandatory use of the “Leave Home Safe” app for a wide range of businesses, including restaurants, beauty salons, gyms and other entertainment venues, part of an ongoing bid to facilitate the reopening of the border with mainland China.