Regina restaurants allowed to reopen for in-person dining May 17

Regina restaurants to reopen WATCH: After a second closure that lasted for more than a month, Regina eateries will be allowed to open again. Wayne Mantyka has more.

REGINA — Regina restaurants will be allowed to reopen for in-person dining on May 17.

In a release, the Government of Saskatchewan said restaurants in the Queen City will be subject to the in-person dining guidelines currently in place province-wide.

“Now that we have moved past some very high numbers were in Regina and they're stabilizing, plus our vaccines that are rolling out, we thought it was a good opportunity for them to be able to look at the 17 of May, and be able to figure out ‘okay what do I need to do for ordering food, logistics, staffing up?’” Minister of Health Paul Merriman said.

Capacity at a single table will be limited to four people. Indoor tables with physical barriers between them must be two metres apart, while tables without barriers have to be placed three metres apart.

For outdoor dining, there must be a two metre distance between tables, with or without barriers.

Alcohol sales will be allowed up until 10 p.m.

Restaurants also must continue to record information for all customers, for contact tracing purposes.

The province said all other measures and public health orders remain in place.

Minister of Trade and Export Development Jeremy Harrison said he notified hospitality Saskatchewan on Friday morning ahead of the announcement of the changes.

“They were very, very excited that this would be going forward and that business owners as well, would have a have a bit of time to make sure that they were prepared to go back into in-room dining when that May 17 date came along,” Minister of Trade and Export Development Jeremy Harrison said.

Harrison said he expects to the reopening of restaurants to have a significant impact on employment in the city.

“I expect that we're going to continue to see positive growth and employment going forward, that this isn't just a one month thing,” Harrison said.

“Any ability for the sector to plan is appreciated by myself as somebody advocating for food and beverage, but we're going to need to do more work to help this sector recover,” NDP Economy & Jobs Critic Aleana Young said.

With files from CTV News Regina's Colton Wiens