THE boost in business that diners will bring is not worth the health risks of letting people into restaurants once more, a medical expert.

Food and beverage groups also expressed wariness at the proposal to allow fully vaccinated people to dine out.

They said such diners would only represent a marginal increase in revenue for the restaurants because people, whether vaccinated or others, are not comfortable going out amid a raging epidemic.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has promised fully vaccinated people a greater degree of freedom of movement, such as permission to eat out.

But not all restaurant owners are agreeable to the idea of opening their doors to diners at this juncture.

Some believe that only a small group of fully vaccinated people would wish to dine in and their patronage would not justify reopening with full service.

The trade groups also had differing views on when they should reopen for business.

Malaysia Koo Soo Restaurants and Chefs Association president Wong Teu Hoon said it is safer to wait until 70% of the population have had their jabs before resuming business.

“How many households have completed vaccination? The food business will not necessarily improve, instead operators may lose by paying more for utility bills, salaries and other costs,” Wong told The Malaysian Insight.

“Businesses have been making losses anyway, we would rather wait until the vaccination goal is reached before re-opening.

“Moreover, the pandemic is still severe, and operators are worried because some employees are still not fully vaccinated,” Wong said.

He said that once a positive Covid-19 case is diagnosed in a restaurant, the operator will need to fork out more expenses on disinfection services.

As of July 29, only 19.3% of the national population has received two doses. By state, those with the highest percentage of fully vaccinated people are Labuan (54.5%), Sarawak (44.5%) and Perlis (29.2%).

The densely populated Klang Valley (Selangor and Kuala Lumpur combined), where eating out was part of people’s lifestyles pre-pandemic, has only 23.9% of its population fully vaccinated.

Muhyiddin said recently the relaxed SOPs planned for those with two vaccine shots might include dining in, interstate travel for spouses working and living apart, and certain social and sports activities.
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The fast-track for double-dose recipients diverts from the national recovery plan, however, which stipulates daily Covid-19 cases below 2,000 and 40% of the population full vaccinated before phase 3 is allowed, whereby most economic activities except high-risk sectors can operate and limited social activities are allowed.

Wong is also not keen about the hassle restaurant workers might have to face in checking customers’ for confirmation on their vaccination status.

“There will be difficult customers who are not willing to show us their mobile phones, when we insist, an ugly scene breaks out,” he said, referring to the digital Covid-19 vaccination certificate in the MySejahtera phone app.

However, Wong, who is also president of Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors’ General Association president, said allowing dine-ins for fully vaccinated people might be more beneficial to hawker stalls and coffee shops rather than bigger establishments.

It will also benefit the working crowd, he added.

Selangor Chinese Coffee and Tea Shopkeepers’ Association president Lee Chow Hait said that coffee shop businesses may recover by 50% if dine-in is allowed.

He still expects slow demand, and dine-in customers to come mainly from the working crowd as they would not want to linger after finishing their meals.

“People will not stay on to chat as they did in pre-pandemic times,” Lee said.

He agreed with Wong on the difficulty of checking customers’ vaccination certificates.

“Not every customer will be willing to cooperate, it will cause disputes between businesses and customers from time to time,” he said.

Fully vaccinated can still be potential virus spreaders

Professor Dr Moy Foong Ming from the Universiti Malaya’s Department of Social and Preventive Medicine said the fully vaccinated will still face infection risks, although with much less severe Covid-19

“If half the population in the country is fully vaccinated, then we can say it’s relatively safer to allow dine-in activities,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

She considered the current 19.3% of the population with two doses as still “very low”.

“Even though the fully vaccinated will only have mild symptoms when infected, they are still potential spreaders,” she said, noting cases of healthcare workers who have been fully vaccinated, yet later got infected.

“Furthermore, the transmission rate is still very high under the threat of newer variants of concern.

“We are seeing that these variants spread faster and more easily, making the current pandemic situation different from last year.”

Moy said if the government wants to give more freedom to the fully vaccinated, it should start with allowing other types of outdoor activities instead of dine-ins.

She said that foreign countries had permitted concerts and spectators for football games when 50% of the vaccination population was achieved.

She added that indoor activities are still a risk with the virus confirmed to be airborne.

Several Asian countries have started implementing dine-in for vaccinated individuals.

In Hong Kong, the requirement is that employees must be fully vaccinated, while customers must at least be injected with the first dose.Singapore in mid-July allowed the fully vaccinated to dine in groups of five, and those with the first dose can dine in groups of two.

However, Singapore banned the practice again on July 22 after Covid-19 cases rose onced more. – July 31, 2021.