A group of 17 entertainment businesses and their employees on Sunday asked a court to block new COVID-19 regulations that come into force on Monday.

But Madam Justice Miriam Hayman did not uphold a request for a provisional warrant of prohibitory injunction and decided instead to hear the merits of the case on January 28, meaning that the new COVID rules will not be stopped until at least then.

According to the new rules, a vaccine certificate will be required to enter a number of catering and entertainment establishments, including bars and nightclubs, restaurants, cinemas and gyms among several others.  

The rules also require frontline staff, those dealing with clients, to be fully vaccinated.  

Contacted on Sunday, lawyer Arthur Azzopardi who is among the lawyers representing the plaintiffs told Times of Malta that his clients fear they would have to let staff go once the rules come into force.  

Declining to reveal the identity of his clients “for fear of reprisal”, Azzopardi said some two dozen other business owners had already expressed their interest to join the fight.  

The other lawyers are Keith Borg, Eric Micallef Figallo, Clive Gerada and Franco Debono. 

The court action comes as hundreds of people on Sunday took part in the biggest protest so far in Malta against rules meant to control the spread of COVID-19.

From Monday, a Maltese certificate is deemed valid if the holder took a booster dose less than nine months ago or took the initial doses less than three months ago. 

Anyone who took a booster dose must re-print the vaccine certificate on certifikatvaccin.gov.mt. 

The certificate should show that all three doses (two in the case of those given a single-dose jab) have been administered and that 14 days since the booster dose was given have passed. 

Health Minister Chris Fearne has defended the new rules, saying they will allow social distancing in restaurants, bars and other similar venues to return to pre-pandemic levels.