The health and tourism authorities say it is “too early” to tell when large-scale events can be held again, as some festival organisers start unveiling their summer plans.
The clubbing scene was brought to a standstill last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although partying resumed for a few weeks in July, all mass events were banned after an outbreak at a weekend-long hotel party.
Dates for two massive parties in summer have now been announced by organisers eager to get partygoers back on the dancefloor and put Malta back on the map of clubbing destinations.
The Glitch Festival 2021 will be held in mid-August while the Lost and Found party will take place a few days later in September.
However, organisers appear to be taking a cautious approach.
“No one is giving a green light or assurance,” said a spokesperson for Glitch.
“We are waiting for better times, as mentioned clearly in the statement, hence why we also say we will postpone the line-up announcement.”
The spokesperson did not say whether meetings with the authorities have been held to discuss the issue.
The organisers of Lost and Found did not reply to questions from Times of Malta.
Meanwhile, the tourism and health ministries sent the same reply to a series of questions on the matter: “It is too early to speak about when these events can start to take place again. The government will remain consistent throughout and will act upon the advice given by the health authorities.”
Commenting on Times of Malta’s Ask Charmaine column on Wednesday, Superintendent for Public Health Charmaine Gauci said: “In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, gatherings and mass events present a risk of increasing the transmission rate of the virus in view of the potential for close contact between many persons for an extended time period.”
Prime Minister Robert Abela has repeatedly said he hopes Malta will have returned to “business as usual” by May, which is when the government hopes to start achieving herd immunity through its COVID-19 vaccination programme.
The authorities say it is premature to start discussing when it will lift measures.