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German and Swiss music festivals cancelled over pandemic

Seven of the most renowned German and Swiss summer music festivals have been cancelled for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic, German concert promoters Eventim said Wednesday.

German and Swiss music festivals cancelled over pandemic
Fans at Rock am Ring in J une 2019. Photo: DPA

They include the iconic Rock am Ring at Nürburgring, one of Europe’s largest, the Hurricane festival in Scheessel and the Greenfield festival in Switzerland.

Promoters Eventim said festival organisers had decided to cancel due to “ongoing uncertainty about infection rates and mutations”. “2021 was supposed to a summer of reunions, and festival organisers have put a lot of time and work into hygiene concepts to make this possible,” said

Frithjof Pils, CEO of Eventim Live. However, the “epidemiological situation” and coronavirus restrictions meant “festivals of this magnitude are not yet feasible at present”.

READ ALSO: Eight online events in Germany not to miss in March 2021

Eventim added that festival ticket-holders for 2021 would be given “a convenient opportunity” to rebook for the following year.

Festivals like Rock am Ring and Hurricane are enormous events held at major motorsport venues which welcome tens of thousands of visitors every year.

Other major European festivals such as Glastonbury in southwest England have also been cancelled in recent months.

Concert halls and music venues have been closed for months in Germany due to the pandemic, and currently have little prospect of reopening in the next weeks.

Case numbers have been stagnating in recent days despite months of restrictions, with the seven-day incidence rate at 65.4 per 100,000 people on Wednesday, according to official figures.

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COVID-19

What does the increase in the number of Covid cases in Switzerland mean?

Coronavirus infections are on the rise again, with Swiss health officials and epidemiologists expressing concern over the possible evolution of the disease.

What does the increase in the number of Covid cases in Switzerland mean?

While the worst of the Covid pandemic is long over, and experts don’t expect it to re-emerge with the same strength and health consequences as it had in 2020, new cases have been reported in the past weeks.

Wastewater analysis, one of the means employed by health officials to measure the presence of coronavirus, indicates a viral load that is at least five times higher than usual, with values “now almost as high as in some previous Omicron-related waves,” Christoph Ort, spokesperson for Eawag Institute, which traces Covid viruses in 14 wastewater treatment plants in Switzerland, told the media.

What does this mean?

According to Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), the most common sub-variant in Switzerland right now is the highly transmissible XBB, also known as ‘Kraken.’

The Eris and Pirola variants, which circulated in the summer and early fall are also still present.

While none is nearly as dangerous (at least for most people) as the early Alpha and Delta viruses, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the early stages of the pandemic, there is a reason for concern nevertheless.

“It’s a start of a small wave,” said Rudolf Hauri, head of the Cantonal Doctors’ Association.

“More people are being admitted to hospitals again with, or because of, coronavirus. There are also new cases in intensive care units, but these are generally people with a medical history.”

Should you be worried?
 
While the number of people with serious Covid-related complications is not expected to be as high as previously, the rise in the number of infections should not be trivialised either, infectious disease specialists say.
 
This is especially important for people in the high-risk category — those over 65 or suffering from chronic illnesses — who can get quite sick if infected with the new variants, according to FOPH.
 
This is all the more important as the flu season is about to begin in Switzerland as well, and the confluence of both illnesses, plus other respiratory viruses that typically circulate during the winter, can be very risky.
 
What can you do to protect yourself?
 
Other than adopting the same protective measures as those during the pandemic — that is, washing hands, avoiding close contacts and crowded spaces, and wearing masks where needed — health officials also recommend top-up shots, for both Covid and flu.

READ ALSO: Who should get top-up Covid and flu jabs in Switzerland?

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