Interested to see how this works.
Singapore is planning to carry out a nightlife reopening pilot in the next months. [Featured Image: Antoine Julien, Unsplash].
Starting in December, a small number of bars, pubs, nightclubs, discotheques, and karaoke lounges are to be permitted to partake in the pilot scheme.
Pubs and bars will be permitted to run under the pilot scheme from December of this year, for two months, while karaoke lounges and nightclubs scheme will begin in January 2021.
There are a number of rules that must be stuck to for venues and attendees. Venues found to be breaking rules may be faced with punishment and even have their license for the scheme revoked.
These rules include:
- Customers must wear masks at all times except while eating and drinking. For example, masks must be worn by customers on the dance floor or while singing
- No alcohol can be sold, served, or consumed after 10:30pm
- All customers entering karaoke lounges and nightclubs must have tested negative for Covid-19 24 hours prior to end of the activity at the nightlife establishment
- CCTVs are deployed and activated at all times, with common areas and rooms used for the activities surveilled. Recordings must be stored for at least 28 days, for regular reviews by the enforcement agencies to check for compliance with SMMs.
Venues have until the scheme’s beginning in December to make any changes and prepare their spots for the new rules to run smoothly.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), who are running the scheme, noted that the pilot was needed to assess the safety of further reopenings. If clusters of Covid-19 cases are found to result from the pilot, it could come to an end earlier than planned.