English mass event trials only led to 15 Covid cases out of 58,000 people
England’s collection of mass event trials have been deemed a “real success”, with only 15 positive Covid cases out of 58,000 people.
Culture secretary Oliver Dowden said the results showed “we’re making good progress along the line to bring the West End back to life again”.
The government put on a series of indoor events in England last month, including a club night in Liverpool without social distancing or masks, as a trial run before Covid restrictions are set to be removed next month.
Other events included the Brit Awards, the FA Cup final and the snooker championships.
Dowden told the Evening Standard that there were just four Covid cases across 17 days of the snooker championships, zero cases from the Brits and nine cases at the club night in Liverpool.
“I hope by June 21 we will be lighting up the West End again, having full stadiums and bringing light and Technicolor back into our national life again,” he said.
The government is increasingly confident it will be able to go ahead with its plan to shed most, if not all, Covid restrictions by next month.
This could include scrapping the one-metre plus rule and face mask requirements, however exact measures will not be announced before a social distancing review led by Michael Gove is published.
When asked if theatres will be able to operate without social distancing from next month, Dowden said he was “very hopeful”.
He said: “There’s two questions. Can we go ahead with stage four on June 21? I hope we can. We’re definitely not ruling it out.
“Then the second question is the ‘how’ and this is about the sort of mitigations that you might have to have in place.”