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Netherlands and Denmark go full capacity this summer

Successful vaccination roll-outs are enabling the end of social distancing, with Dutch festivals able to go ahead at 100% capacity from July

By Jon Chapple on 11 Jun 2021

The Netherlands is rolling back restrictions "thanks to the hard work of Fieldlab"


image © Back to Live

Live events will be permitted at full capacity in the Netherlands and Denmark – pre-pandemic, respectively Europe’s fifth- and eighth-largest live music markets – as early as this month provided fans can produce proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test.

The Dutch minister for economic affairs, Mona Keijzer, announced today (11 June) that ticketed events in the Netherlands may go ahead at 100% capacity after 30 June if they require a vaccination certificate or negative test (the latter a maximum of 40 hours old) from attendees. Currently, a minimum distance of 1.5 metres is required between each eventgoer.

The decision to lift the Netherlands’ final social distancing regulations comes on the back of encouraging results from Fieldlab Evenementen’s Back to Live, the world’s biggest pilot event programme, which revealed that the Covid-19 risk at live events is about the same as bring at home when following hygiene and testing protocols.

“It is great news that events such as festivals and concerts will soon be possible again thanks to the hard work of Fieldlab Evenementen,” says Keijzer. “We now use the insights gained by the Fieldlab organisation to adjust the roadmap. If you have been vaccinated, tested negative or have recovered from Covid-19, you can go to a festival or concert as you could before.”

The new rules initially apply only to ticketed single-day events, though multi-day events and overnight stays will be possible from 29 July, according to NU.nl.

“If you have been vaccinated, tested negative or have recovered from Covid-19, you can go to a festival or concert”

In Denmark, meanwhile, up to 10,000 people will be allowed at “public events” as of Monday (14 June), AFP/Reuters reports, thanks to the country’s Covid-19 ‘passport’, Coronapas, which certifies that the bearer has either tested negative for the coronavirus or is immune/vaccinated.

“We will be able to do everything that we have missed, because we now have the epidemic under control,” Danish health minister Magnus Heunicke told reporters earlier this week.

The loosening of restrictions initially applies only to outdoor events, with 11 August the date when any form of assembly limit (indoors or outdoors) is scheduled to attend, according to The Local. Additionally, there are different rules for music compared to sport and other live events: The live music industry is currently permitted only 2,000 guests for outdoor events and in sections of 500. From 1 July it will be 2,000, in sections of 1,000, and from 15 August it will be 10,000 attendees, albeit in sections of 2,500.

The Danish government is aiming for the Coronapas to be phased out completely by 1 October, when it is hoped enough people will be vaccinated against Covid-19.

The clarification on the rules from August onwards comes too late for Denmark’s major music festivals, which cancelled en masse last month citing a lack of information.

 


This article forms part of IQ’s Covid-19 resource centre – a knowledge hub of essential guidance and updating resources for uncertain times.

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