#DineInCanWait: Kelantan Restaurant Owners Refuse To Take Risk, Opt To Postpone Dine-Ins

Eatery owners in the state of Kelantan have opted to disallow dine-ins as they are not willing to take the further risk of causing the spread of new Covid-19 cases at their premises.

Last Sunday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that fully vaccinated individuals in states under phase two of the National Recovery Plan are allowed to dine at food outlets.

During a check by BERNAMA yesterday, 10 August, many eateries and restaurant owners, including cafes, said they still would not allow fully vaccinated customers to dine in although they are allowed to do so.

According to BERNAMA, Lieniey Nasi Kerabu Tumis owner Zaini Ahmad, 51, said he won’t allow dine-ins at his eatery because the daily Covid-19 cases in the state were still high and unsettling.

“Although permission has been given to eat at restaurants, I opt to put it off first because I feel the current situation is still not suitable yet for the relaxation.”

“My workers have not received the Covid-19 vaccine injections. This makes me reluctant to take the risk as this might spread the virus outbreak at my premises,” he told BERNAMA.

Kafe Drum & Desk manager Chew Li Mun, 30, said the cafe planned to allow dine-in from next month onward. She said her business was down by over 50% when dine-ins were not allowed as safety was a top priority.

“It is okay to suffer a bit of loss because safety and good health must be prioritised. Currently, sale depends a lot on walk-ins as well as orders via a food delivery application. I plan to allow dine-in from September after my 12 workers completed their two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine,” she told BERNAMA.

Further checks found that some café owners in Kota Bharu have placed the ‘#dineincanwait’ hashtag on their Instagram posts to inform their followers of the postponement.

Let’s take this as a reminder that even with the relaxed SOPs, our country is still battling the Covid-19 virus. Support your local businesses while you can and stay home as much as you can. 

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Also Read: Finally! Here Are ALL The Relaxed Covid-19 SOPs That Fully Vaccinated Malaysians Can Enjoy