Hotels told to strictly adhere to Covid norms

KOLKATA: The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) has sent a notice to all its members on maintaining the COVID-19 protocols considering the steep rise in the number of reported cases in the state.

The president of association Sudesh Poddar said: "Restaurants and hotels have been asked to become strict about usage of masks and sanitiser by both members of staff and customers. This is an early beginning to help curb the spread of COVID-19."

After the second wave, people have been careless about following the norms, especially with regards to using masks and hand sanitiser. But in the face of rising cases, few restaurants and hotels are getting stricter.

Poddar said that the association has asked its members to monitor the body temperature of their staff in the morning and always used hand sanitiser. The Association has 1500 hotels and restaurants as members.

The manager of a restaurant in Park Street, Romeo Hansel Bergeon said that the restaurant management have maintained the norms throughout the duration of the pandemic and continues to do so. "Even after the numbers went down, we did not remove the glass divisions between sitting arrangements. Moreover, our staff continued to diligently wear masks and gloves," Bergeon said. Even though hotel managements across the city have started slowly returning to the health norms, some are awaiting a notice from the government to implement the norms strictly, when it comes to customers.

A restaurant manager at Park Street said that the temperature of the staff is being monitored regularly and they have been strictly asked to wear masks but they are unable to implement the same rules on customers.

Most of the leading restaurants said that people are not adhering to the norms and when asked to do so, some retort while others give negative responses.