While our country is still fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, other countries are slowly lifting economic and social restrictions.
France is an example of a country that is slowly starting to lift such restrictions. With almost 50 per cent of the population vaccinated and the number of new infections decreasing every day, the French authorities have allowed fans to attend the world-famous French Open tennis tournament.
Tennis fans, especially Parisians, are overjoyed when they were allowed to watch the latter stages of the tournament.
Despite this, only 13,000 fans were allowed to be at Roland-Garros Stadium, significantly lower than the usual 40,000 fans during pre-pandemic times.
As a precaution, fans, players and staff are required to show they have been vaccinated against Covid-19, or have been tested negative within the last 48 hours, before they can enter Roland-Garros.
As the French Open concluded, Euro 2020, a major football tournament, started after being delayed for over a year because of the pandemic.
The England football team was scheduled to play against Croatia in the famous Wembley stadium in London on the same day the French Open concluded.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic is under control in the UK, the authorities have allowed fans to watch the match in the stadium with an attendance of 25 per cent of the stadium’s total capacity.
Similar to the French Open, entry to the stadium was only permitted with proof of Covid-19 vaccination or negative test results.
This is not the first time that mass gatherings are permitted within a controlled situation.
Earlier in March this year, 5,000 music fans were allowed to attend a rock concert in Barcelona, Spain. The concert was organised as an experiment to evaluate the transmission of Covid-19 in an enclosed space.
All 5,000 fans agreed to take a Covid-19 test, and were tested negative before being allowed to attend the concert.
Researchers concluded that no transmission of Covid-19 took place during the concert, although six people were reported to be infected with Covid-19 within 14 days after the show.
These are examples of how mass gatherings could be organised in the future.
Our road to recovery from the pandemic is far from over, but we must be optimistic that things can go back to normal.
Therefore, we must continue to stay at home and practise SOPs whenever we have to go out.
When the situation is under control in our country, we can enjoy going to live events such as concerts and sporting events in the future, and might be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result.
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
