NEWS
COVID UPDATE: HK TO REOPEN BARS, INDIA AND THAILAND RESUMED ALCOHOL SALE
By Siulan Law Mathews DipWSET
6-5-2020
Credit: Meriç Dağlı/Unsplash
Hong Kong has recorded no locally transmitted cases in the past 17 days, the government announced yesterday relaxations on social distancing measures, venues including bars and pubs are allowed to reopen from 8 May Friday when the current closure order expires.
Pubs and bars will be able to get back to business, but have to operate at half capacity, host no music shows and close dance floors, while seating no more than 4 people at each table.
Also from Friday, restaurants can seat 8 people at each table, doubling the previous limit of 4.
Other venues including cinemas, fitness centres, gaming arcades, mahjong parlours can also reopen, but they still have to take precautions including checking temperatures.
However, nightclubs, saunas, party rooms and karaoke lounges will remain shut until further relaxations.
In India, the Modi administration issued new guidelines that came into effect on 4 May Monday, standalone shops including liquor retailers are allowed to reopen.
State governors were handed the power to decide whether businesses can reopen on a state-by-state basis, and most allowed off-trade liquor shops to resume trading.
Lines stretched more than a kilometre could be seen outside some liquor shops in Monday morning. Photos showing police struggling to maintain social distancing gone viral in social media.
The state government in Delhi responded on Monday by imposing a 70% levy to try to control the crowds. The southeastern state Andhra Pradesh followed with a 75% excise hike.
Local police in Mumbai requested liquor shops to issue tokens to customers from Tuesday to avoid over-crowding outside the shops.
In Thailand, the ban on alcohol sale was lifted in some provinces from 3 May Sunday, but consumption is only allowed at home.
The decision on whether to lift the ban is left to provincial governors, some have decided to extend the ban.
Buri Ram, Chanthaburi, Lop Buri, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Phanom, Phetchaburi, Phitsanulok and Rayong are among the provinces where the ban remains in force.
Supermarkets and shops in other provinces saw people buying beer, wine and whisky in bulk as the clock struck 11am on Sunday, the earliest time alcoholic beverages can legally be sold.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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