On Monday, December 21, approximately 60 Monegasque restaurants were subject to unannounced health checks. The operation was jointly carried out by the Department of the Health and Food Security Division and the Department of Public Security with the sole objective of verifying whether or not the current sanitary measures were being respected.
After the surprise checks were carried out in the districts of Port Hercule, Fontvielle and Monte-Carlo, 21 tickets were issued for various violations. “The majority of them concerned the failure to wear masks by members of the staff of the establishments and the failure to respect the distance of 1.5 metres between the tables,” reads an official Government statement.
For some unsuspecting restaurants, these were not their first violations. As a result of repeatedly breaching the measures put in place, four establishments have been required by ministerial decree to close shop for four to seven days, as of December 24. The four establishments in question have not yet been published in the Journal de Monaco, the official bulletin of the Principality.
Due to the time of year and Monaco’s stand-out stance on keeping restaurants open, albeit in limited hours, patrons within a 20-mile radius of the Principality have flocked to it to fulfil their fine-dining desires. To manage this influx, the Monegasque authorities assure that they will continue to carry out unannounced checks for weeks to come.
