Hong Kong’s catering, bar sectors could face up to 25 per cent drop in business this week, industry leaders warn, as nearly half of residents still without third coronavirus vaccine

Hong Kong’s restaurants and bars may lose up to a quarter of their business this week and the local economy may suffer as well, industry leaders have warned, as nearly half of residents have yet to meet a new vaccination rule set to take effect on Tuesday.

Only slightly more than half of the city’s population has received a third dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Under the next stage of the vaccine pass, residents aged 12 and above must have received three shots or taken their second jab within six months in order to enter most premises, while people who have recovered from Covid-19 for more than six months and were never vaccinated before have to be inoculated with one dose.

About 667,000 people have received the third dose in May so far, with a record high 51,366 getting them on Monday alone, but civil service chief Patrick Nip Tak-kuen on Sunday said about 600,000 who were eligible had not yet received the booster.

Allan Zeman, chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group, said he expected business in bars and clubs to drop by around 20 to 25 per cent in the short term.

“If 600,000 people are not yet inoculated, that is not a small sum,” he told the Post, but added he believed vaccination figures would rise once more residents realised they could not go anywhere without being fully jabbed.

Zeman said bar and club owners were concerned about the consequences of breaking the vaccine pass rules and took pains to ensure their staff knew how to handle patrons who were not inoculated.

With people older than 12 eligible for the third dose since November 23 last year, the number of boosters administered per day had been increasing and reached 45,544 on March 7 during the peak of the city’s fifth Covid-19 wave.