Penang Government has released guidelines that emphasize social distancing and other standards for public safety designated by the federal and state governments, to re-open arts and cultural areas.

In a statement, Penang Tourism, Arts, Culture and Heritage Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said the Guidelines for Arts and Cultural Operations of Public Health include key considerations to assist arts and cultural organizations, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to make decisions about operations and programming.

These guidelines, according to Yeoh, are important for aiding arts and cultural organizations to determine while the pandemic is still going on.

"The arts and culture sector are among the most affected by the COVID-19 crisis, with many public events and activities canceled or postponed due to the Movement Control Order (MCO). So far Penang is the first state in Malaysia which has come out with these guidelines," he said.

He noted that these guidelines are not meant to be complete or comprehensive in scope and do not apply to every organization.

"We encourage arts and culture organizations and practitioners to use these guidelines as a foundation for their plans and adapt to their specific needs in implementing mandatory public health guidelines," he said.