HONG KONG — Restaurants in Hong Kong have been scrambling to remove hotpots from their menus as people shun gatherings amid the coronavirus outbreak, but fears spiked over the past few days when at least 11 family members became infected after the traditional communal meal.

The city’s appetite for hotpot, usually enjoyed in the thick of winter, has waned with the Centre for Health Protection revealing confirmed cases from the family cluster since Sunday (Feb 9). The infected patients were part of a larger family group who had gathered at Lento Party Room in Kwun Tong on Jan 26.

As of Wednesday, Hong Kong’s infection tally stood at 49, with one related fatality, while the global number of cases, mostly in mainland China, had crossed 45,000, with a death toll of more than 1,100.

Facing mounting public concern, major catering chains in Hong Kong, such as Fairwood, Cafe de Coral and Maxim’s, announced on Monday they would temporarily suspend hotpot menu items.

Maxim’s revealed on Monday that two of the infected family members were its employees who worked at Moko mall in Mong Kok and Alexandra House in Central. The two outlets would be closed for two weeks for cleaning and disinfection, the company said.

Japanese fast-food chain Yoshinoya also suspended hotpot meals, while Chinese restaurant chain Fulum Group did so the day before.

China’s largest hotpot restaurant chain, Haidilao, said on Monday that it would continue operations at its four branches in Hong Kong, but would take measures to prevent the spread of the virus — including conducting temperature checks on customers and providing hand sanitisers.

Its manicure services and children’s playgrounds, provided for people waiting for seats, were temporarily closed.

Local hotpot restaurant 616 Beef Hotpot in Whampoa has seen business plunge by about 90 per cent since the outbreak, according to owner Gordon Lam Sui-wa. He said his outlet now only served two to three tables of customers a day.

“Business has been bad, very bad, especially since Lunar New Year,” he said.

To better protect staff and customers, Mr Lam said, he required his restaurant to be disinfected every day, and employees to get their temperatures taken before work. The eatery also provides hand sanitisers for diners and clean envelopes for them to keep their masks in, according to Mr Lam.

Mr Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said hotpot businesses had declined more than 50 per cent since the outbreak.

“Winter used to be their peak season, but the outbreak of the virus has caused them to suffer a lot, and news about cases related to hotpot will worsen this,” he said.

Hotpot is a communal meal with a heated soup pot in the middle that allows diners to toss in their own mix of meats or seafood with vegetables. Restaurants in the city have for a long time required individual cutlery that is separate from the communal ladles used for dishing out the soup to diners.

Mr Wong noted some hotpot restaurants placed a barrier between diners at the same meal to ensure some form of protection, but he said this hurt the mood of the gathering.

Mr Wong added that eateries should continue working to improve their hygiene, including requiring staff to wear masks and clean their hands, and ensure clean tableware.

Restaurants could provide more space between seats for diners, and offer hygiene products such as sanitisers, he added.

Restaurant operator Samme Cheng said the entire catering sector faced a dire situation.

“Since the social unrest, the industry has had severe challenges. Now the outbreak of the coronavirus has made matters even worse,” he said.

Mr Cheng, an industry veteran of more than 30 years, said many eateries were forced to put employees on unpaid leave, and negotiate with landlords to cut rents.

Catering sector lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan urged the government and banks to offer relief measures as soon as possible to help eateries, including lowering rents. He also called authorities to clarify details of the family cluster infection.

“The revelation by the Department of Health about the infected cases could give a wrong impression to the public that eating hotpot can spread the virus, but in fact, it can happen anywhere like on MTR trains and buses,” he said.

He said the catering sector had so far done well in pandemic prevention and management to protect diners.

Doctors were divided on whether having hotpot meals could increase the risk of catching the coronavirus.

Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert from Chinese University, said the problem was not the meals but the fact that diners gathered close to one another.

But infectious diseases expert Joseph Tsang Kay-yan said hotpot meals posed high risks of infection, as apart from close contact, the heat from the hotpot could enable droplets loaded with the virus and suspended in the air to travel further and be inhaled. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST