All live performances can resume in full with relaxed restrictions

All live performances here, whether in theatres, concerts or even street busking, may return in full with the easing of Covid-19 safe management measures.

The National Arts Council (NAC) said in a statement yesterday that there will no longer be restrictions on the number of performers and crew or unmasked performers in a production.

Singers and wind musicians will also no longer need to conduct additional antigen rapid tests before performances. But all staff must comply with the Ministry of Manpower's workplace vaccination rules that only fully vaccinated individuals or those who have recovered from Covid-19 in the past 180 days can return to the workplace.

Indoor venues can welcome up to 1,000 audience members at full capacity. More than 1,000 audience members will be allowed at bigger venues, as long as the capacity is at 75 per cent. They must be masked and fully vaccinated.

Similarly, museums and heritage institutions can admit up to 1,000 visitors or 75 per cent capacity for larger venues.

Audiences at outdoor venues may also be unmasked if distances of at least 1m are kept between groups.

Live performances can also resume in other venues. This means musicians and singers can return to live gigs at food and beverage establishments, while buskers can perform unmasked, with social distancing, in outdoor settings.

There will no longer be size limits for arts classes in mask-on indoor settings and vaccination-differentiated safe management measure classes.

NAC also announced a new busking e-service portal that will offer buskers greater access to locations and time slots.

Arts groups were quick to respond. Theatre company The Necessary Stage added tickets for Opposition, its last production at its Marine Parade Community Club home, which were promptly snapped up.

Its general manager Melissa Lim, 45, welcomed the relaxation of rules. She said: "This means the world to us, particularly since Opposition is the final production to be staged at our black box theatre."

Ms Rachelle Tan, the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay's director of venues and planning, hailed the new measures as "positive moves towards progressive recovery for the arts sector".

The arts centre can now accommodate about 1,200 people in the concert hall for programmes such as Beautiful Sunday and Mosaic Music Series and 1,400 in the theatre for National Theatre Live screenings. This is a big increase from the previous limit of 500 to 600 people per venue.