In a concerted effort to keep businesses such as these afloat, restaurants, cafés and bars in Vilnius (Lithuania) can now serve outdoor.
Restaurants and cafes have been allowed to reopen in Lithuania this week and Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius has put a spin on the city's outdoor dining scene.
On the city’s plazas, squares and streets, "nearby cafés will be able to set up outdoor tables free of charge this season and thus conduct their activities during quarantine," Remigijus Šimašius said in a recent news release.
Outdoor public spaces, including the Cathedral Square, will become temporary homes to some of food and beverage properties. Eighteen such spaces have been proffered at this time.
Cafés and restaurants choosing to reopen can serve only outdoor diners and must maintain social distancing rules between customers, edicted per Lithuania's Health Ministry.
"Vilnius' offer to help our cafés and restaurants came just in time," Evada Šiškauskienė, Head of the Lithuanian Association of Hotels and Restaurants, is quoted in the release. "This additional space will help them accommodate more visitors and bring life back to the city streets without violating security requirements."
Due to lack of passengers, Vilnius Airport was also transformed into an open-air cinema. Hundreds of film lovers enjoyed an open-air cinema on the tarmac on 20 April, just a few metres from the planes grounded by the coronavirus pandemic.
