Derby Telegraph

Bloodstock tells festival-goers to get tested as virus cases confirmed

- By GEORGE BUNN george.bunn@reachplc.com

A HEAVY metal music festival in Derbyshire has issued a warning to festival-goers to get tested after Covid cases were confirmed.

Some people who went to the festival at Catton Park, which finished last Monday, have returned positive tests since the event.

A spokespers­on from the festival said: “We ran with the NHS track and trace app so people could check in at the festival.

“Track and trace has just made us aware of a few reported cases of Covid and a statement has gone out on our social media platform to advise customers who attended the festival to take a test to check they are not infectious.”

The spokespers­on has outlined the measures that were in place to keep the event as Covid-safe as possible.

They said: “We operated a stringent protocol on the entry gates for festivalgo­ers and crew to ensure they provided us with proof of negative lateral-flow test or double vaccinatio­n using the NHS app, before being admitted and accredited on-site. We also had a number of people turn up who were identified as Covid-positive on arrival and therefore were turned away due to our system capturing them prior to being admitted on site.

“We invested significan­tly in onsite Covid testing centres and many other measures to mitigate the virus everywhere possible. “Ultimately, it’s impossible to eradicate the risk entirely – but we consider we went well above and beyond our legal requiremen­t. “We felt it our duty of care to do so to protect all festival goers, artists and crew as much as possible. “Also, as stated by the Government, we didn’t have to put any measures or tracking in place whatsoever,” the spokespers­on added. “We did this at our own cost to try to mitigate risk as much as possible. Covid hasn’t gone away but the economy has to look at returning to normal as soon as possible and the virus is something that, globally for the next few years at least, we all need to learn to live with.”

We advise customers who attended the festival to take a test to check for Covid. Festival spokespers­on

 ??  ?? Fans at Bloodstock, which ended on August 16
Fans at Bloodstock, which ended on August 16

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