Health Minister Chris Fearne announced that two test events with less Covid restrictions will be held at the end of September.

The minister delivered a press conference yesterday, along with Minister for National Heritage, Arts and Local Government Jose Herrera and the Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci.

Speaking about events in general, Fearne said that outdoor standing events for 100 people will be allowed to start from Monday, for those who are fully vaccinated and masks must be worn. An event of 100 people must be held in an area of 200sqm.

If the situation remains controlled, then indoor standing events for 100 people will be allowed indoors from September 13 with the same protocols. On that same day, the distance between bubbles in seated events for 100 people or less would reduce from two metres down to one metre.

Mixed standing and seated events will not be allowed for now.

Towards the end of September, if events do not cause issues, then two pilot test events will be held with less restrictions for those attending, who must be fully vaccinated. The people attending these two test events will be required to take a PCR test 5-7 days after in order to gauge whether such events are safe. It has not yet been decided what these two events will be, but they will be private sector events. The events will be for 300 people each.  More details will be revealed at a later date.

Minister Herrera said that decisions are being taken cautiously.

Asked about school protocols, they said that the protocols that the government proposed are finalised after weeks of discussions. “The principle is that we want to give the opportunity for all schools to open physically while safeguarding the health of students and teachers. Discussions are ongoing with stakeholders to reach final agreement and it will then be communicated to the public.”