THE Chinese Lunar New Year is still some three weeks away, but some restaurants are already reporting they are 50% booked for reunion dinners despite a resurgence in Covid-19 cases in recent months.

Restaurateurs said this was a clear sign that fears of contracting the disease were quickly fading.

Ang Swee Kiong, president of the Johor Kitchen Association, said he was confident that restaurants throughout the country could secure a full house for the occasion this year. 

“Will definitely be full (the restaurants),” he told The Malaysian Insight, noting that table bookings appeared to be picking up nationwide.  

“I fear for those who did not make advance bookings. They might not get a table anywhere,” Ang said. 

Too Hon Kwong, chairman of Hee Lai Ton (Pudu) Restaurant Sdn Bhd, agreed with Ang.  

He said there had been no cancellation of reservations at his restaurant over fears of a Covid-19 resurgence.  

“And we are already fully booked.” 

Too believed the main reason people were not too concerned was the government’s assurance that the situation was well under control. 

While Too was overjoyed at securing a full house for reunion dinners, he lamented that bookings for the year-end “closing dinner” were somewhat slow. 

He said most employers still tended to celebrate this on a smaller scale, opting to book just a few tables – a far cry from before the pandemic when bosses hosted grand dinners for their workers.

Safety guidelines 

Ang said member restaurants in the Johor Kitchen Association would implement safety guidelines recommended by the Health Ministry. 

They would put in place basic preventive measures, and their workers have been instructed to wear masks at work, he added. 

“While we don’t specifically require our customers to wear masks, we believe that as long as we do our part, customers will follow suit (wearing masks).” 

Ang pointed out that – post-pandemic – the general public was very concerned about personal hygiene and cleanliness, and restaurant owners had put in extra effort to fulfil these requirements. 

On December 18, Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad announced that his ministry would implement five measures to address the escalating Covid-19 situation, which included early detection of confirmed cases, restarting TRIIS (Test, Report, Isolate, Inform, and Seek), and dealing with the Omicron variant and its subvariants (XBB.1.16, XBB.1.5, EG.5, and JN.1). 

Recent reports mentioned the rapid spread of the JN.1 variant, classified by the World Health Organization as a “variant of concern” with cases reported in 40 countries, including the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Iceland. The US also first detected JN.1 cases in August of the same year. – January 11, 2024.