5 March 2021
To: Licensees/Persons-in-charge of food premises
Reminder on Strict Adherence to Prevention and Control of Disease
(Requirements and Directions) (Business and Premises) Regulation (Cap. 599F)
by Food Business Operators and Food Handlers
The Government has gazetted on 2 March 2021 directions and specifications under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Requirements and Directions) (Business and Premises) Regulation (Cap. 599F) to maintain the social distancing measures currently in place, and strengthen infection control measures in catering business premises in view of the recent cluster of cases. The directions and specifications has taken effect from 0.00 am on 4 March 2021 and will last for a period of 14 days till 17 March 2021 (the specified period). Please refer to Annex I for details.
Apart from continual compliance with all the requirements and restrictions in force1all along, you are requested to pay special attention to the new requirements and restrictions listed below.
[1] Including putting up at the entrance or a conspicuous location of the premises a poster containing the “LeaveHomeSafe”venue QR code; ensuring that there is a distance of at least 1.5 metres or some form of partition which could serve as an effective buffer between tables; the number of customers at any catering premises at any one time must not exceed 50% of the seating capacity of the premises; ensuring that a person must wear a mask at any time within the premises, except when the person is consuming food or drink at a table; performing body temperature screening before a person is allowed to enter the premises and providing hand sanitisers, etc. Also, if the operator of the catering business adopted two newly added measures (ensuring customers scan the “LeaveHomeSafe” venue QR code using the LeaveHomeSafe mobile application on his/her mobile phone or register their personal information to be kept for 31 days and all staff involved in the operation of the premises have to undergo a polymerase chain reaction-based nucleic acid test for the coronavirus disease 2019 every 14 days, and ensure the staff obtain SMS (mobile phone text message) notification containing the result of the test and keep record of each SMS notification for 31 days), catering premises may then extend their dine-in service to 9.59 pm and allow no more than 4 persons to be seated together at one table.
- Dedicated staff must be arranged for clearing used utensils and cleaning and disinfecting used tables and partitions (cleaning-up duties) and separate staff must be arranged for other duties not involving cleaning-up duties. If this arrangement is not practicable, it must be ensured that the staff carrying out any of the cleaning-up duties must adopt hand hygiene measures, i.e. using alcohol-based hand sanitisers, washing hands or changing gloves, before switching to perform other duties, and should adopt hand hygiene measures as necessary during each round of cleaning-up duties.
- To facilitate catering premises serving customers of ethnic minorities or foreign domestic helpers, this department has prepared a notice template of nine-language version. If required, please download them through the following webpage.
On frequently asked questions applicable to the latest directions and specifications of Cap. 599F, please refer to Annex II for details.
To enable the catering business to take a step forward under the premise of putting the pandemic under control and facilitating the revival of the economy, the Government strongly appeal to all persons responsible for carrying on catering businesses to work together and strengthen efforts for sustained implementation of epidemic prevention measures so that the public can enjoy dine-in services safely. We will step up inspections to ensure that the relevant requirements and directions are complied with and take stringent enforcement actions against defiant offenders at an appropriate time after an initial phase of education and publicity. Joint operations with the Police will be conducted as necessary. Persons responsible for carrying on catering businesses who contravene the statutory requirements under Cap. 599F commit a criminal offence and are subject to a maximum fine of $50,000 and imprisonment for six months.