Restaurants engaged in the "We Fight for Our Culinary Industry" initiative have announced that they intend to open their indoor premises for customers on Tuesday. According to a decision of the Public Health Office restaurants can currently serve food and beverages only to customers in outdoor seating areas and provide take-away meals. Otherwise they face a fine of up to €20,000. "We too want to operate in a normal mode, just like retail shops, wholesale businesses and supermarkets. We want to be open like cinemas, theatres and churches are," stated initiative head Miroslav Heredos. They have been joined and supported by the Slovak Fitness Centre Union. "A vast number of our members will open their gyms on Tuesday, we're joining the initiative," stated union head Pavel Kisel.
The Slovak Public Health Office has stated that such steps may worsen the situation and delay the relaxation of measures and the return to normal life. "Unfortunately, deliberately circumventing the rules that protect us can lead to exemplary sanctions. We would be very reluctant to find ourselves in this situation, because the business sector is hardly tested during a pandemic. However, if necessary, we will have to do so in order to protect human health," said office's spokeswoman Daša Račková on Tuesday.
