RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Not all bars will be opened this week even though the gov­ern­ment has giv­en the green light for the serv­ing of al­co­hol in-house to ful­ly-vac­ci­nat­ed cus­tomers.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, pres­i­dent of the Bar­keep­ers and Op­er­a­tors As­so­ci­a­tion of T&T Satesh Moone­sar said many cus­tomers are fast­ing for Di­vali and will not come to the bars to drink.

He al­so said in some ar­eas where there is a high pop­u­la­tion of Hin­dus, bar own­ers had de­cid­ed to stay closed.

On Sat­ur­day, Health Min­is­ter Ter­rence Deyal­singh yes­ter­day con­firmed bars and restau­rants have clear­ance from Mon­day to serve al­co­hol for cus­tomers to con­sume on the premis­es.

“We will still have a 50 per cent lim­it ca­pac­i­ty and we are ap­peal­ing to bar own­ers to take charge and en­sure that all pro­to­cols are up­held,” he said. Asked what was in place to man­age cus­tomers if they be­come in­tox­i­cat­ed and un­ruly, Moone­sar said it was im­por­tant for bar own­ers to make sure that cus­tomers fol­low pro­to­cols.

He not­ed that since the start of the pan­dem­ic, thou­sands of peo­ple in the bar in­dus­try went out of busi­ness. How­ev­er, he said the es­tab­lish­ments have con­tin­ued op­er­at­ing with new own­ers. 

Say­ing it will take time for busi­ness­es to pick up, Moone­sar ex­pressed hap­pi­ness that the re­open­ing had restart­ed al­low­ing some peo­ple to get back on with their lives.

“We are pre­pared and it is some time now we have been ask­ing for a re­turn to some sense of nor­mal­cy. Yes, we will still have re­stric­tions, but it is a step in the right ­di­rec­tion,” he added. 

He said prop­er health guide­lines should be es­tab­lished for safe zones and cus­tomers must show proof of vac­ci­na­tion in or­der to be served in-house.

The re­open­ing of bars is in keep­ing with the roll­out of safe zones for vac­ci­nat­ed peo­ple. The first roll­out took ef­fect on Oc­to­ber 11 when restau­rants were al­lowed to re­open for vac­ci­nat­ed peo­ple on­ly.