The dust from the latest Covid-19 outbreak is still settling. Already, restaurants are feeling its effects—and some aren’t happy about what they view as an uneven application of anti-virus measures.

 

Yesterday, as Covid cases soared, with an outbreak stemming from pubs, bars, and a hostess club in Thonglor spreading further and faster across the city than other previous infections, several restaurants were forced to shut their doors for two weeks because of contact tracing.

 

Some have questioned why restaurants have been ordered to close while the many luxury malls and hotels visited by Covid-infected customers are allowed to remain open.

 

 

“Since we discovered a customer [infected with Covid-19 had visited our restaurant], we closed and shifted all orders to delivery,” said the owners of Saphan Kwai’s Phed Phed Cafe in a translated Facebook post.

 

“An officer checked in with us, and we told him we won’t open the restaurant but will continue to solely sell for delivery. The officer, however, said we couldn’t do that, as an official statement said it was mandatory for restaurants [in our scenario] to remain closed for 14 days. We asked them why only restaurants are forced to close while the major department stores are allowed to stay open.”

 

As restaurant closures began to quickly multiply outside of the cluster-affected zones—with venues like Sushi Zo, Chim Chim, Philtration, and Changwon Express shuttering for two weeks as of yesterday—food and beverage figures made public pleas for support and understanding.