Singapore will suspend all 400 or so nightlife establishments that had pivoted into F&B establishments from July 19 to July 30, following a spike in new infections clustered around some of these outlets.
MTF co-chair Lawrence Wong said the Ministry of Health “will test all the staff of these establishments, inspect their management protocols in these establishments, and ensure these are properly implemented before they are allowed to resume F&B operations.”
According to Kenneth Mak, Singapore director of medical services, as of July 16, there are 120 cases related to the so-called KTV cluster, which involved social hostesses and their patrons.
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The index case, which was a Vietnamese social hostess, Mak said, may not necessarily be the one who brought the infection into this particular setting. “Given that she has been in Singapore for a period of time, that's highly likely that this cluster was seeded through community spread.”
Mak also added that investigations have identified that most of the infected individuals in this cluster are regular visitors of the clubs, as well as the hostesses who move from club to club, often within the same day.
“It was likely that there has been considerable mask-off, close contact interactions, which has taken place within these premises, which has allowed infection to spread,” said Mak.
Nightlife operators must play their part: Wong
Wong pointed out that these nightlife operators were allowed to “pivot” to food and beverage business as a “lifeline” instead of a complete shutdown during the circuit breaker in 2020.
“Unfortunately, there are a few that have flouted the rules, [and] we will take some action against them… I think the onus is very much now on the nightlife association and its members to show us that they can get their act together and behave properly,” Wong said.
Responding to some queries as to why these hostesses were allowed to come to Singapore, Wong revealed they were in Singapore earlier, either on valid work permits or visit passes, sponsored by Singaporeans.
The index case, he said, was sponsored by her Singaporean boyfriend on a visit pass. Furthermore, around the time of her entry back in February, Vietnam was deemed a low risk country, with Singapore having a unilateral opening for Vietnam travelers.
Wong said it was clear that she didn’t bring in the virus, but instead, caught it in Singapore.
“These visit passes are typically for family reasons...the problem that arises is that these pass holders, seemingly on valid passes, work passes or social visit passes, had breached the rules by moonlighting as hostesses,” he added.
He promised enforcement action against them, as well as the local sponsors of these passes, who may not have given accurate information to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) in their applications.
Wong also appealed to all Singaporeans to play their part and stick to the restrictions imposed.
“The more we behave badly, and break the rules, it will be a never-ending spiral. Enforcement agencies have to keep on doing more, and then there’s more bad behaviour, and we keep on doing more, and then it never stops.”
“As we have seen, one single irresponsible behaviour can have a devastating impact for the entire community,” he said.
