Brussels test event reports zero COVID infections

A test event in Brussels has reported that no attendees have since tested positive for COVID-19.

The party at La Madeleine in the Belgian capital hosted around 250 people and 50 organisers, technicians and artists.

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Researchers were trying to determine if rapid flow testing could be a reliable way to open bars and nightclubs while preventing COVID-19 infections.

10 people and one artist tested positive ahead of the event and were prevented from attending.

L'Or du Commun, Black Mamba and DJ Vega performed for crowds at the event organised by La Madeleine in collaboration with the City of Brussels.

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In Belgium restrictions on nightlife are still in place, with experts appealing to the government to follow the example of neighbours The Netherlands in reintroducing nightlife with the aid of testing.

Yves Coppieters, an epidemiologist at the University of Brussels (ULB) said:

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“Young people are hungry for nightlife. However, the necessary protocols need to be worked out, such as, for example, the compulsory display of a coronavirus certificate."

“If measures are lifted elsewhere, surely that means this is not unreasonable. It seems as if politicians are afraid to give the young people their freedom back.”

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However, as The Netherlands has been forced to pull back on nightlife freedoms after just two weeks, with the Belgian health minister Frank Vandenbroucke telling local news sources: “I have absolutely no desire to end up in a Dutch yo-yo policy.”

[Via: The Brussels Times]

Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Digital Editor, follow her on Twitter