UK festival run by Electric Picnic organisers blamed for Covid spike
Festival-goers watch Bill Bailey perform at the Obelisk Arena at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk.Â
Covid rates are on the rise in an English county following a music festival run by the same group that hosts Electric Picnic.
The Latitude festival, which ran from July 21-24 in East Suffolk, saw around 40,000 music fans descend on the area for what was one of the UK government's test events. Attendees were required to present proof of full vaccination, proof of a negative NHS Lateral Flow test, or proof of immunity based on a positive PCR test.Â
There was also a "vaccination bus" on-site at the festival where eligible people could receive a dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
Data now indicates that in the days following the festival, Covid-19 rates in the area are on the rise.
According to British government data up to August 1, the seven-day incidence rate in the East Suffolk area has reached 240.9 per 100,000 people â a jump of 58.5 on the previous week.
It was the only district in the county to see a rise in infection rates in the seven-day period.
In the days following the four-day event, a local GP expressed concern about what he called the 'Latitude effect'.
Dr Mark Hainsworth said that watching footage from the event on TV, he had seen people "dancing and snogging". Mask-wearing and social distancing were not required at the event.
It is thought that many young people who attended relied on negative Lateral Flow tests to gain entry as they would not yet have been contacted for their second vaccine dose.
The GP believes the tests are not very reliable and said ideally proof of full vaccination would be the sole criteria for people to attend such events.
"Ideally we want youngsters to be fully vaccinated as. with most viruses, the chance of longer health complications are higher among young people," Dr Hainsworth told the .
However, he conceded: "But as Boris Johnson has said, if we can't open up now in the summer â when can we?"
Speaking to Sky News on the opening day of Latitude, Melvin Benn, managing director of the Festival Republic group said, Latitude was âclose to being the safest place in England todayâ.
Mr Benn had requested that Latitude should be one of the British government's test events, saying: "I'm sure everyone will agree that the additional data that will be given to government from this event will benefit us all in the future".
The Festival Republic group runs a host of festivals such as Electric Picnic, the Reading and Leeds festivals, and Download.
In June, the Download festival welcomed 10,000 fans to Donington Park as it ran as part of a number of large-scale test events. Findings from this phase of pilot test events have not been made public but sources in the UK government have said the results were encouraging.
Mr Benn and Festival Republic were dealt a blow this week after Laois County Council refused to grant the Electric Picnic organisers a licence to hold this yearâs festival.
The Council said the decision was made due to "the most up-to-date public health advice made available to the Council by the HSE".
Following the decision, Electric Picnic organisers said it was a huge blow and set back to the entire sector and had resulted in the loss of employment for over 3,000 people.
Organisers cite the TRNSMT festival in Scotland, âa country with a similar population and virtually identical vaccine rollout and uptake as our ownâ, which is set to go ahead in September.
They say it makes the decision âeven more difficult to acceptâ.
Irish musicians such as Bressie and Danny O'Reilly from The Coronas have criticised the decision to cancel the festival which had been scheduled to run September 24-26.
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