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Sweden has kept bars and restaurants open for table-only service
during the pandemic, but authorities have still fretted about
overcrowding.
With other countries now cautiously opening up - the United
Kingdom is set to re-open pubs and restaurants on July 4 -
Stockholm-based developer Chris Mortimer hopes to help diners
and tipplers keep their distance and minimise the risk of
spreading the virus.
With Mortimer's app BYEVID, drinkers can either book their pub
visit online, ahead of time, or scan a QR code once in the bar,
allowing punters and owners to see if the venue has reached its
safe capacity.
"So the information we're looking at is - on the map where the
place is, how many people are at the place right now and what
the maximum is," Mortimer told Reuters.
Owners can vary the maximum number of customers, depending on
the rules in their country.
"We also see...information on what they do to keep the place
clean in coronavirus times," Mortimer added.
Sweden's state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell - the public face
of Sweden's much-discussed strategy to slow the spread of the
virus - is not convinced such apps will have a big effect.
But he welcomed any attempt to provide more data that
authorities can use to control the spread.
"How much (apps) add to non-digital contact tracing still
remains to be proven…most virus spread is done through people
you’re already aware of...in your workplace, your family,"
Tegnell told Reuters.
For Stockholm-based bartender Mawhinna Howell it's a welcome
help in the art of managing social distancing rules.
"Its nice to know how many people we can expect, it helps us to
prepare for the day," she said.
(Reporting by Colm Fulton; Editing by Simon Johnson and Ed
Osmond)
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