MX23RW : Thursday, April 25 14:04:28| >> :600:58214125:58214125:

Michael Eavis: 'Glastonbury 2021 could use mass testing'

Michael Eavis: 'Glastonbury 2021 could use mass testing'
© Reuters
Michael Eavis suggests that multiple mass testing of all 200,000 festival-goers could enable Glastonbury to go ahead in 2021.

Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis has speculated that the festival could go ahead next summer by employing mass coronavirus testing.

This year's event - planned to be a 50th anniversary celebration - was cancelled due to the pandemic and as it stands, Eavis is still ploughing ahead with plans to hold a rearranged festival next summer.

A vaccine for the virus is not expected to be approved for general use in the UK until early 2021, however, and with mass distribution of that vaccine across the population expected to take at least six months, Eavis is hoping that an ambitious plan of testing all 200,000 festival-goers multiple times could enable Glasto to proceed.

"The testing is going so well now, there could be massive testing arrangements," he said in an interview at the Wells Literary Festival.

"Do we want to test 200,000 people, three times – when they leave their home; when they're halfway here; and when they get to the gate – so that we're clear of COVID?"

More than 1.1 million people worldwide have now died of coronavirus, while a second wave of the infection is spreading rapidly across Europe.

ID:419343:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:collect1425:

Follow us on X/Twitter and like us on Facebook for the latest entertainment news alerts.

Media Mole April Offer: Get Sky Entertainment, Sky Stream & Netflix for just £23 a month + £0 upfront fee for 18 months!
Prices may change during this period. Ends 25th April 2024


Coronavirus latest - entertainment - Click here for more stories

Click here for more stories about Michael Eavis

Collect / Create New Data
Share this article now:
General view of Glastonbury revellers in 2019
Read Next:
Glastonbury 2021 branded "wishful thinking" by Michael Eavis
>
rhs 2.0
New TV Picks header

Thursday, April 25


The Hotel Inspector: Channel 5, 9pm
Alex helps out a publican and part-time circus performer at a pub in Salisbury

Joe & Katherine's Bargain Holidays: Channel 4, 10pm
Comedians Joe Wilkinson and Katherine Ryan go on a series of affordable but "fabulous" holiday breaks, starting in.... Norfolk.

MasterChef: BBC One, 9pm
The final six new amateur cooks compete for a place in tomorrow's quarter-final

EastEnders: BBC One, 7.30pm and iPlayer, from 6am
Jade visits daddy Dean in the clink... will she fall for his lies again?