Coronavirus: Hong Kong restaurant, bar owners angry and disappointed over requirements for lifting restrictions
- Businesses must ensure all staff have been vaccinated and customers use contact-tracing app
- Industry bosses say officials are unfairly making them responsible for solving city’s vaccination problems
Some business owners said authorities were putting them between a rock and a hard place, as they could not force employees to be vaccinated, and would not want to offend customers by turning them away for not having the “Leave Home Safe” app on their phones.
“As an employer, I feel like I am being put in a very difficult situation. The government seems to offer some ways to ease our plight. But in fact the new conditions are hard to implement and leave us with no choice,” said Ray Chui Man-wai, chairman of industry body Institute of Dining Art.
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Many restaurant bosses, including Chui, said they had not decided whether to accept the measures as they needed to discuss them further with partners and staff. Those who fail to fulfil the new conditions can continue operating under the existing rules, which cap the maximum number of people per table at four, forbid dine-in services after 10pm and allow customers to simply write down their contact details rather than use the government app.