Back from the dead? Hong Kong bars emerge from five-month coronavirus shutdown, but barely coping with rules cocktail
- Operators say they are struggling with ‘hastily distributed’ information from authorities and a rushed Covid-19 vaccination app
- Pub owners are still trying to encourage staff to get vaccinated, says Wing Chin of the Hong Kong Bar and Club Association
Hong Kong’s bars crawled to life on Thursday night in a muted comeback after a five-month closure, with many operators struggling to cope with what they said was hastily distributed information from the authorities and a rushed Covid-19 vaccination app.
As a so-called vaccine bubble kicked in, with conditions for businesses tied to inoculation statuses of patrons and staff, bars without restaurant licences were finally allowed to welcome guests again. The terms included requirements for staff and customers to have had at least one vaccine jab, and guests to use the government’s “Leave Home Safe” risk-exposure app.
At nightlife district Lan Kwai Fong in Central, the scene was still far quieter than usual. At around 7pm, bar workers tried to lure passers-by with shouts of “happy hour” promotions. Some pubs had more than a dozen guests, but most were only entertaining fewer than 10 customers.
Apart from asking guests to scan the “Leave Home Safe” app, frontline staff at bars without restaurant licences also had to verify people’s vaccination records through another app.
Anthea Cheung, director of the Lan Kwai Fong Association, estimated only about half of the bars without a restaurant licence in the area resumed business on Thursday as some operators still needed more time to arrange their manpower under the new vaccination requirement.
Cheung noted that those reopening businesses had to prepare their operations for Thursday in a hurry because the link for downloading the app was only distributed to them around lunchtime. The app was only available for the Android system but not iPhones for now, she added.