By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Ballito Rage festival has been cancelled after 36 people tested positive for Covid-19.
“We take the safety of all our customers, staff and suppliers extremely seriously. It is for this reason that the event organisers have taken the decision to cancel the remainder of Ballito Rage,” organisers said in a statement on Wednesday.
The festival opened on Tuesday with unprecedented Covid-19 protocols in place, including mandatory vaccinations for all staff and guests and pre-arrival Covid-19 tests for all guests. A testing facility was located near the event site and staff testing began on Monday, and of the first 122 staff tested, zero presented positive.
Organisers said on Tuesday that all remaining staff and all guests underwent Covid-19 tests at the testing centre near the event site before entering the event.
“Between 2pm and 10pm, 940 guests and staff were tested and 32 guests and four staff presented positive results. The Department of Health was on site and worked together with our team to conduct contact tracing and ensure isolation of positive individuals and staff as per government protocols.
“After further exhaustive review this morning, consultation and guidance from the local and provincial Departments of Health and other key stakeholders, the decision was collectively made to cancel the event going forward based on the data now available to us,” organisers said.
They added that it is their responsibility to “do the right thing based on facts, collaboration and the resources and tools we have available.”
“We highly commend and sincerely thank our partners at the KwaZulu-Natal and Illembe Departments of Health, local municipality, SAPS, Chamber of Commerce and all others who have worked with us daily from the beginning to deliver the safest event possible in these extraordinary times,” organisers concluded.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned the nation during his address on Sunday to avoid large gatherings following the discovery of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.