Fieldlab will publish Eurovision coronavirus infection rate after protests

The number of coronavirus infections picked up by Eurovision Song Festival fans during last week’s performances will be made public in a couple of weeks after all, a spokesman for the Fieldlab organisation has said.

Earlier the organisers said that the number of infections would not be made public because the information was not relevant to the experiment – which was ostensibly to see how big events could be organised safely during the pandemic.

Now the organisers say that the number of infections will be published once the health boards have finished their track and trace operation in about three weeks time.

Previous Fieldlab events, such as small scale festival in Biddinghuizen, did result in a handful of positive tests.

In total, 28,249 people had a coronavirus test in one of the Fieldlab test centres prior to attending one of the Eurovision shows. They have also all been asked to take a second test after the show, to find out if coronavirus still got through, although the second test is not compulsory. In previous events, around 80% of people did so.

A number of academics have been highly critical of the Fieldlab events, saying they do not follow ethical standards for behavioural research.