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| Warning signs against COVID-19 are placed at a train station in Seoul, Jan. 17. AP-Yonhap |
Complaints have been mounting among owners of cafes and restaurants after the government decided Monday to keep its COVID-19 vaccine pass requirements for eateries, while suspending its enforcement at other multiuse facilities.
The government decided to halt vaccine pass requirements at department stores, supermarkets, cram schools and theaters nationwide starting Tuesday, after the Seoul Administrative Court ordered a suspension of these at such facilities in the capital.
Court officials said these facilities were where people rarely took off their protective face masks.
The vaccine pass system, which has been in effect since November, requires people to present proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test result when entering restaurants, cafes and other multiuse facilities.
Some eatery owners in Seoul slammed the decision, calling for a uniform suspension of the program.
"It is inconsistent to only exempt supermarkets from the vaccine pass system. ... Markets are the same (as other facilities) that they are crowded, and people pick up and put down stuff," said Choi Eun-seong, a rice stew restaurant owner in the west of the capital.
A 59-year-old toast store owner also said small diners should be given exemptions from the vaccine pass, claiming they face a heavier financial burden in following antivirus rules as small merchants compared with big stores run by conglomerates.
"My store's daily average sales were 100,000 won ($84) before, but these days, I suffer a loss of 30,000 to 40,000 won every day, as I have to turn down customers due to vaccine pass restrictions," a 68-year-old owner of a street food restaurant, surnamed Kim, said.
Small merchants also called upon the government to ease the business hours curfew.
The government raised the private gathering size limit to six while keeping a 9 p.m. curfew on cafes and restaurants for three weeks starting Monday.
"I hope cafes will be allowed to open until at least 10 p.m. When the curfew was 10 p.m., some people were visiting to study or after dinner, but since the curfew was tightened to 9 p.m., nobody comes," a cafe owner in southern Seoul said.
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