A new Covid-19 cluster emerged among a group of KTV lounges turned F&B establishments, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its daily case update on Monday (12 Jul).
As such, MOH has offered free swab tests for those who went to 3 KTV lounges visited by these cases.
However, 1 of the lounges has claimed that the social hostess who visited his venue is not their staff but was actually a customer.
Mr Li, a manager at Supreme KTV at Far East Shopping Centre, told Lianhe Zaobao that he wasn’t aware that a social hostess was among his customers.
On Tuesday (13 Jul), Lianhe Zaobao reports Mr Li, 40, as saying that he was unaware of the infected social hostess being a customer.
He only found out after MOH notified Supreme KTV of a confirmed Covid-19 case there.
“For us, having customers is already a very good thing. Why would we go out of our way to check on their identities”, he told Lianhe Zaobao.
He said business has dropped to about 30% of what it was pre-pandemic, as the KTV lounge had to pivot into an F&B establishment due to restrictions.
All staff, including Mr Li, have gone for Covid-19 tests and are under quarantine since the news.
The KTV lounge will remain indefinitely closed as cleaning plus disinfecting are done.
When asked about affected customers, Mr Li noted that while he’s not sure about the exact amount, most of the customers consist of a small number of regulars.
Mr Li also shared his worries at there being Covid-19 cases among KTV lounges.
He fears that the efforts of the past year will go to waste as they’ve been anxiously awaiting the reopening of nightclubs and KTV lounges.
Mr Li also shared that nightclubs have tried their best to adhere to safe management measures.
“These girls have been to so many places, whether they got infected at (Supreme KTV) is unclear”, he noted.
Initial media reports may have appeared as though the social hostesses were employees at the affected KTV lounges, perhaps leading to the clarification.
Businesses in the entertainment industry have been especially hard-hit by the pandemic.
With nightclubs and KTV lounges still unable to resume indefinitely, a cluster forming there is definitely a cause for concern.
We hope, however, that the spread can be nipped at the bud and that the entertainment industry can resume operations soon.
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