All nightlife businesses to fully operate starting 19 April

In case of breach of safety measures, businesses will be shut down.

All nightlife establishments will be allowed to fully reopen starting 19 April 2022, subjected to safe management measures (SMMs) and vaccination-differentiated SMMs (VDS), the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said.

The MTI said in its announcement that SMMs will be implemented on food and beverage establishments, retail liquor establishments, and live performances in a bid to stop the transmission of COVID-19 during reopening.

For nightclubs and discotheques, where dancing is one of the main activities, a negative antigen rapid test (ART) supervised by a Ministry of Health-approved test facility, either face-to-face or remotely, must be mandated for patrons before entering the nightlife venue. 

The COVID-19 test will be valid for 24 hours from the time of the test result. Patrons must get tested before the start of their visit, and at most 24 hours before the end of the attendance at the event or activity.

Here are the required SMMs for all nightlife businesses such as bars, pubs, karaoke, discotheques and nightclubs:

a) Group sizes: Groups of up to 10 fully vaccinated persons, where full vaccination-differentiated SMMs (VDS) checks have been implemented at entrances.

b) Mask-wearing: Mask-wearing required indoors but optional outdoors.

c) Safe distancing: Safe distancing of at least 1m when mask-off, between individuals or groups.

d) Capacity limits: Capacity limits of 75% for large settings/events with >1,000 pax, which are mask-on and there is no 1m safe distancing, and no capacity limits for smaller settings/events with ≤1,000 pax.

e) Supervised ART tests: Supervised ART test for patrons as long as the premise offers dancing among patrons as an intended activity. This will apply mainly to nightclubs and discotheques.

As nightlife businesses reopen, enforcement agencies will also continue to monitor the establishment’s compliance. If there are violations, punishments will be served under the COVID19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 whilst the business will be liable for the issuance of notice of composition and closure order.