Bars and pubs under nightlife pilot to stay open for two more months

THE three bars and pubs currently open under the nightlife pilot will be able to stay open for two more months, until April 7.

But the pilot will not be expanded to include more participants. This is to mitigate the risk of further community transmission and formation of clusters in "high-risk settings", said the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday night, noting the recent increase in the number of unlinked Covid-19 cases in the community.

The agencies added that they will continue to monitor the public health situation closely, and may work with the existing pilot participants - Bar Kiharu, Bell Bar and Skinny's Lounge - to tighten the safe management measures (SMMs).

This comes after the authorities postponed the pilot programme for nightclubs and karaoke joints last month, as a result of the spike in the number of community cases.

The pilot was postponed indefinitely, to the dismay of the nightclubs and karaoke operators selected for the programme as some had incurred substantial costs to ready their outlets for reopening.

On Friday, the authorities said that they will continue to monitor the public health situation closely, before making any decision to "scale up the pilot for bars and pubs and/or commence the pilots for nightclubs and karaoke outlets".