Coronavirus: Hong Kong’s new ‘vaccine bubble’ arrangement to simultaneously relax, complicate rules for bars and restaurants

The new arrangement will create different sets of rules – and seating areas – for customers based on their vaccination status and whether they use the government’s risk-exposure app
While requirements for staff to get vaccinated have also raised concerns, one bar industry group says it will be the lack of inoculated customers that scuppers the sector’s recovery

Coronavirus pandemic

Cannix Yau

Published: 9:27pm, 27 Apr 2021

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Hong Kong’s struggling restaurants and bars stand to benefit from the relaxation of social-distancing measures from Thursday, but only if they can comply with a complicated new set of rules, with vaccination as a key condition.

Secretary for Food and Health Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee announced on Tuesday a series of coming rule changes for the pandemic-battered food and beverage industry under the new bubble, with the measures subject to review after two weeks.

“This vaccine bubble is a very important public health measure so that on one hand, we can have a safe relaxation [of rules], and on the other hand, we can also mitigate the risks associated with the relaxation,” she said

Jabs needed to visit reopened venues under Hong Kong’s easing of Covid-19 rules

Under the bubble, bars and nightclubs without restaurant licences – which have been closed entirely since late November – will be allowed to reopen at half capacity until 2am, with seating capped at two patrons per table. However, that arrangement depends on all staff and customers having received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

The government will roll out a new app allowing restaurants and pubs to verify customers’ Covid-19 vaccination records before Thursday.

Restaurants, meanwhile, will have varying sets of rules for customers, who will be segregated into different zones based on whether they are vaccinated or not, and whether they use the government’s “Leave Home Safe” risk-exposure app.

App users, for instance, will be allowed to sit six to a table – up from the current four – and enjoy dine-in services until midnight, as opposed to 10pm. However, those who prefer to simply write down their contact details instead of using the app will have to be seated in a separate zone, and will still be limited to groups of four and get the boot at 10pm.

The new ‘vaccine bubble’ arrangements are slated to go into effect on Thursday. Photo: Winson Wong

Under the new rules, eateries whose staff are fully vaccinated will be able to establish yet another separate zone for diners who have received at least one shot and use the risk-exposure app. They can dine in groups of as many as eight, and linger until 2am, with that zone allowed to operate at 75 per cent capacity, up from 50.

Diners who have had at least one jab will also be allowed to attend banquets of up to 100 people – an increase from the current cap of 20. Those unfit for vaccination can also produce a negative Covid-19 test result to attend. Restaurant staff members who similarly cannot get vaccinated will need to fill out a declaration form to that effect and get tested regularly.

Diners who are under the age of 15 and accompanied by adults, and those over the age of 65, will be exempt from having to use the Leave Home Safe app.

Vaccinations for Hongkongers a must for future travel bubbles: minister

As to whether the new requirements could cost restaurant workers their jobs if they were unwilling to get jabbed, Chan said she was “concerned”, but it would be up to operators to decide how manpower would be deployed in the various different zones.

“Regarding the job security of workers, we are very concerned,” she said. “While we are trying to open and also make requirements for vaccination, the last thing we want to see is people firing their employees because they do not want to be vaccinated and so on.”

However, Wing Chin Chun-wing, president of the Hong Kong Bar & Club Association, warned that rather than vaccinated staff, it would be the lack of inoculated patrons that would actually scupper his industry’s recovery, saying hundreds of bars were still at risk of closing.

“If only those who are vaccinated can visit a bar, this will greatly impact the bar business. I believe that bars can only get about 10 per cent of [their previous] business, so maybe half of the city’s bars will eventually shut down for good,” he said.

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The city’s vaccination rate remains low, with only about 11 per cent of the population having received at least one jab since the inoculation drive started in late February.

But executive councillor and lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, who represents the catering sector, said the arrangement was acceptable given the different options allowed for under the rule change.

“Restaurants can operate different zones based on the preferences of their customers,” he said. “If eateries can’t convince their staff to get jabbed, they can remain at the status quo – closing at 10pm and serving a maximum of four people per table.”