The event industry wants to open in mid-March, fewer infections in the Olympic bubble and more corona news from Wednesday 9 February.
7:10 am – Event industry wants to open fully again on March 11
The event industry wants to open on Friday 11 March without restrictive measures. “Since the government does not come up with a concrete perspective, the industry is now putting the dot on the (near) horizon,” the Alliance of Event Builders said on Wednesday. The industry wants the government to decide to take the first steps at the weigh-in next Tuesday, February 15, so that the entire sector can open at full capacity on March 11.
“This just has to and will happen,” says Ruben Brouwer, director of event organizer MOJO, part of the alliance. If the government does not agree to the plan, actions such as large demonstrations and parades will follow, Brouwer reports. “Last year we saw a lot of people flocking to Unmute Us,” an event-brache protest that attracted tens of thousands of protesters nationwide.
With this call, the Alliance, which represents all kinds of organizations in the sector in discussions with the government, wants to send out a clear signal. Because, according to them, the event industry has “been in talks with the government for two years” and the sector has “cooperated in scientific research.” But “despite that, the industry has been imposed such restrictions that larger-scale events are not possible.” Events are now allowed to receive up to 1250 visitors. This includes a fixed seat. As a result, many events are currently canceled or postponed.
At the beginning of March 2020, the first events were cancelled, including the last part of the Holland Zingt Hazes concert series. That is why the sector now wants to open on March 11, the day on which Holland Zingt Hazes is planned again in the Ziggo Dome.
6:00 am – Lowest number of corona cases in one day at Games since the beginning
Five new corona cases were diagnosed at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday. That is the lowest number since the start of the count on January 23, when the first athletes and coaches went to China, the organization reports on Wednesday.
Three of the five cases involved people who arrived at Beijing airport and had to be tested there because they wanted to enter the Olympic ‘bubble’. The other two people who tested positive were already in the sports bubble.
All participants in the Games, from athletes to journalists, must be tested daily for the corona virus. They are kept separate from the Chinese population. More than 70,000 tests were conducted on Tuesday.
The total of positive corona cases at the Beijing Games now stands at 398.