KUWAIT CITY, Dec 2: Restaurants, cafes and catering sector are among those that were most affected by the negative repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a year after the outbreak, this sector is still suffering from the effects and consequences of the crisis that caused the closure of a large number of restaurants and cafes, in addition to rendering others to face lawsuits due to their inability to fulfill various financial liabilities, reports Al-Anba daily.

Head of the Kuwait Union of Restaurant, Café and Catering Companies Fahad Al-Arbash explained during an exclusive interview with the daily that about 30 percent of restaurants and cafes in Kuwait have already closed their doors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This percentage will increase to more than 40 percent by the beginning of next March due to the presence of a large number of lawsuits currently pending in the courts, which are expected to be decided by next March.

If the state does not support the owners of restaurants and cafes and find appropriate solutions for them, the fate of some of them will be imprisonment. This sector was suffering from a weak economy before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic but then the pandemic came to double the problem, which led to speeding up the closure of some restaurants and cafes that were suffering before the pandemic.