The Hong Kong government yesterday opened 19 community centers for residents to eat inside after a COVID-19 pandemic-induced ban on indoor dining at restaurants forced many workers to have their meals outside on pavements in sweltering heat or rain.
The restaurant ban, which took effect on Wednesday, barred any business from serving dine-in patrons to curb the spread of COVID-19, an unprecedented move in a territory where hundreds of thousands of workers depend on eating out for their daily meals.
Construction and office workers were seen across the territory trying to find shade as they ate their take-away noodle and rice lunchboxes in temperatures of up to 35oC.
Photo: AP
Others opted to eat inside their company’s storerooms or even toilets, public broadcaster RTHK said.
In a prompt reversal, the government said that it would partly relax its ban on restaurant dining, adding that it brought “inconvenience and difficulties” to many workers.
From today, outlets would be able to open during breakfast and lunch, provided they operate at 50 percent capacity and ensure that no more than two diners occupy a table.
Ivan Tong, a 24-year-old engineer who was buying his takeaway lunch in the commercial district of Tsim Sha Tsui, said that many industries did not have space inside their office where employees could eat and some companies did not allow dining inside, making the restaurant ban very tough.
“Although these measures aim to lower the number of confirmed cases, it may be more dangerous as people are outside longer,” Tong said.
The move by the territory’s government to open community centers came after private businesses as varied as hair salons and bus companies, as well as churches, started providing spaces for the public to eat during their lunch breaks.
One salon, Hair La Forme, wrote on Facebook that it would provide the public with water, napkins and air-conditioned toilets for free.
“Every time someone eats a meal it will be fully disinfected,” the hair salon wrote above a photograph showing booths for individual customers with leather seats and wide mirrors.
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