Mbabane: All licensed restaurants and eateries will now be allowed to serve customers with liquor, strictly to be ordered with meals.
This was said by the Acting Prime Minister (APM) Themba Nhlanganiso Masuku during a press conference held at the cabinet offices on Friday.
However, Masuku said the liquor can only be served from Monday to Thursday between 11am and 7pm. He said operating hours for restaurants and eateries are being extended to 10pm while convenient stores will be allowed to operate from 7am to 11pm daily.
Masuku said the revised regulations will come into effect from Monday, April 26, 2021.
The Acting Prime Minister said government has further reviewed the operating hours for liquor traders, which will now open between 11am and 7pm on Mondays to Thursdays.
“May I emphasise that the sale of alcohol remains strictly restricted for home consumption only, except where served with meals at restaurants and eateries as already alluded to,” said Masuku.
He said even with COVID-19 infections currently at an all-time low and recoveries on the rise, the nation cannot have the luxury of letting guards down and becoming complacent, not with an adversary still lurking around.
The projected third wave remains an ominous threat to all and if anything, the government is conscious of the need to upscale the preparedness efforts, particularly as it is already wreaking havoc in other countries. Global figures indicate that last week the world recorded the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in seven days than in any time since the advent of the pandemic.
This threat is evidently far from over and any let up, by any one, exposes the entire Nation to another dangerous spell. “This therefore requires all of us to religiously continue practicing the COVID-19 health protocols of:
1. Washing hands with running water and soap or alcohol-based sanitiser;
2. Wearing our masks always; and
3. Keeping the required social distancing.
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