Don’t be so strict on outdoor dining, says Najib

 

Former premier Najib Razak has called for flexibility in rules on outdoor dining. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Local councils have been urged to give some leeway for eateries to provide additional tables for outdoor dining.

Former premier Najib Razak said today that the risk of being infected with Covid-19 was far less if people ate in the open space outside the restaurant premises than inside.

“Therefore, local authorities must provide flexibility for food premises to open tables outside their premises without being fined during the covid crisis,” he said in a short Facebook posting, accompanied by a 2018 photograph of himself and guests at a warong.

Najib did not state a source for his assertion of a lower infection rate among those dining outdoors.

However, researchers at the US’ Centers for Disease Control said last month that “reports of exposures in restaurants have been linked to air circulation”.

The researchers said “direction, ventilation, and intensity of airflow might affect virus transmission, even if social distancing measures and mask use are implemented according to current guidance” in a report quoted at MedPage Today.

Restaurants and other eateries such as food stalls, food courts, hawker stalls and food trucks in the Klang Valley have been restricted to business hours of 6am to 10pm while the conditional movement control order is in force.

Dining-in is allowed, but for only two people per table.

Restaurants and eateries have also been encouraged to promote takeaways, drive-through and home delivery options within the enhanced MCO areas, where a partial lockdown is in place. - FMT