Meet the politician who believes alcohol helps spread coronavirus

Carrie Lam says BYOB from Club 7-11 (scmp)

Meet the politician who believes you are more likely to get coronavirus if you are drinking alcohol.

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam has announced that the city is moving to ban alcohol sales at restaurants and bars as part of more drastic measures to curb the spread of highly contagious COVID-19 virus.

Lam said she is putting forward a raft of policies including banning all visitors from entering Hong Kong and on-premise alcohol sales at eateries, invoking the powers given to her by the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance.

The alcohol ban will affect some 8,600 restaurants, bars and clubs with liquor license in the city.

Arguing for the ban, Lam says when inside a bar, people might have higher risks as "they will take off their masks and chat"; and they might have “more intimate contacts” when they get drunk.

But eating out together is apparently fine.

Hong Kong

“People who want to drink in a bar will just BYOB from Club 7-11 (referring to convenience store 711), decreasing bars’ income and increasing that of 7-11," said one bemused Hong Kong resident on Twitter.

Measures introduced by Lam include banning all non-Hong Kong residents from entering the city for two weeks starting from March 25. Visitors from mainland China Macau and Taiwan will also be denied entry if they have any recent travel history as well.