Ministers have given the green light for members of the public to attend the Eurovision Song Festival in the Rotterdam Ahoy concert hall next month.

Despite the high coronavirus infection rate and hospital admissions, ministers have decided that the public can be admitted safely, under the auspices of the Fieldlab programme of experiments.

The decision was taken after a meeting of ministers to discuss the pros and cons on Thursday.

All nine shows – six rehearsals, two semi finals and the final – can be attended by a maximum of 3,500 people – all of whom must have a valid negative test result to be allowed in.

That is around half the number of people who would have been expected to attend the regular event.

Tickets are only available to those who successfully purchased tickets for the 2020 show and there will be no sale to the general public, the Eurovision organisation said. Ticket sales start on May 8 and cost up to €113.25 for a ticket for the finals.

People considered to be in high risk groups will also not be allowed to buy tickets, Eurovision said. The high risk group involves people with morbid obesity, who are waiting for a kidney transplant or who have serious liver disease.

This year’s Dutch entry, performed by Jeangu Macrooy, is Birth of a new age.