Delta State Govt. Reopens Cinemas, Hotels & Restaurants As Covid-19 Declines.

Delta state government on Thursday announced that all Cinemas, Hotels and Restaurants across the state can be reopened.

The state’s Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, stated that although cinemas and other hotel restaurants are now allowed to operate, they must operate at 50 percent of their capacity and ensure all COVID-19 preventive measures are observed.

UPDATE: As Delta State continues to flatten the #COVID19 curve, the State Government has announced the reopening of cinemas, eateries and hotel restaurants. pic.twitter.com/QQY3RdaEdb

— Delta State Government (@DSGovernment) September 10, 2020

“Recall that in our last press briefing, we mentioned that churches and worship centres can now hold more than one service, that still remains, but today we are announcing further relaxation of the COVID-19 protocol and that is to the effect that owners of movies and cinema houses can now operate.

“But they can only do so at 50 percent capacity, in which case they are not going to fill everywhere. For instance if a movie theatre is supposed to take 50 persons, they should organise it such that it will take 25 persons at a time.

They must constantly fumigate the halls, just as they must also observe all the important protocols that we have reeled out in the past, that is sanitising or washing of hands of persons coming into the theatre houses, and of course wearing of face mask is compulsory for everybody going to access such movie houses,” 

“We will continue to monitor what different persons are doing and if anybody is found to have contravened the protocols we are giving out, be rest assured that we will take action.

“We sympathise with them because we know what it takes for their business centres to be closed for this period of time but it’s important that we preserve the lives of our people.

As we continue to review the processes, we will inform them on further directives but for now, they must operate at 50 per cent and then observing other preventive protocols.

“Our decision is to also enable our people working in such places to return to work and to also allow these businesses become functional again,” He stated.

The commissioner also added that restaurants in hotels can now operate but without buffet; adding that if people must be allowed to eat in the hotel restaurants, the officials must be the ones to serve them.

However clubs and lounges remain closed until government devises a solution on how they can be reopened without aggravating the spread of the virus.