ROCK ON
Latitude welcomes 40,000 fun-starved music fans in first full capacity festival since Freedom Day
LATITUDE Festival will welcome 40,000 fun-staved music fans today in the first full capacity festival since Freedom Day.
Organisers have put the finishing touches to the arena which includes rows of brightly coloured tents and tepees.
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A huge yellow-and-blue event arena along with a blue-and-white music tent were put in place at the Suffolk festival based at Henham Park.
It is the first major event to take place since the Government lifted all social distancing guidelines and the majority of coronavirus restrictions.
The four-day festival, which begins today, is the first music event of 2021 in the nation to be running at full capacity.
Anyone attending the festival must show proof of a negative lateral flow test or of double vaccination - meaning they can dance and hug safely.
Headliners include The Chemical Brothers, Wolf Alice, Fontaines D.C and Pompeii singers Bastille.
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A statement on Latitude’s website says: “We have been working extremely hard to make sure that Latitude Festival can go ahead safely at full capacity.
“After much discussion with the Government, I can now officially announce that we will be going ahead and that we will be joining the 3rd phase of the Event Research Programme as a test event.”
It comes as the BBC Proms is set to open at full capacity and without social distancing from July 30 to September 11.
Similarly to Latitude Festival, attendees will be required to provide evidence of a lateral flow test taken 48 hours before the event.
Last month, thousands of rock fans attended a three-day music festival as part of a government test event.
Download Festival was attended by 10,000 punters who were not required to socially distance or wear masks.
It comes as over 600,000 Brits were told to self-isolate by the NHS Covid-19 App in a week.
A record 618,903 alerts were sent to users of the app in England and Wales in the week up to July 14 as the “pingdemic” continues to cause havoc.
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The NHS Covid-19 App, which "pings" anyone who has been within 2 metres of an infectious person for more than 15 minutes, has caused severe disruption to Brits despite lockdown rules ending on Monday.
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng today vowed that the self-isolation rules would be scrapped by August 16.
He said: "I fully expect that the restrictions will be lifted, that is what we are working towards."
Latitude 2021 tickets go on sale after two year hiatus due to pandemic
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