French gov extends ban on major events until winter

The French government has announced that events with over 5,000 attendees will be banned until November, extending the original ban on major events for a second time.

In May, the government declared a summer event ban until mid-July before pushing it back until September.

This month, prime minister Jean Castex announced that the ban would once again be extended to November, following a concerning new spike in France’s recorded cases of Coronavirus.

“Events of more than 5,000 people remain prohibited until 30 October, with the possibility for prefects to waive them subject to strict compliance with health protocols,” says a statement from the French government.

Last Wednesday, France registered 3,776 new Covid-19 infections, marking a new post-lockdown peak and bringing the total to 225,043.

Festivals including Lollapalooza Paris, Hellfest, La Route du Rock, Rock en Seine were forced to cancel their 2020 editions

Festivals including Lollapalooza Paris, Hellfest, La Route du Rock, Rock en Seine, Eurockéennes de Belfort, Solidays, Festival d’Avignon and Main Square were forced to cancel their 2020 editions due to France’s ongoing event ban.

The new measures in France are identical to that of Germany, following German chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to extend the country’s event ban to November, but with exceptions for those able to comply with coronavirus regulations.

Elsewhere in Europe, Belgium recently announced more stringent restrictions, halving the number of people permitted to attend indoor and outdoor events, reducing capacity limits to 100 and 200 respectively.

The country’s capacity limits had been set to double in August, which would have seen 400-capacity indoor shows and open-air events of up to 800 people, but plans were slashed after a worrying increase in coronavirus cases.

However, Switzerland is planning a promising return to live, permitting events with more than 1,000 people from 1 October.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.