Eurovision song contest to have live audience as part of Covid trial

Limited audience to attend Rotterdam event

Duncan Laurence of the Netherlands was the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2019 (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Shutterstock)

A limited audience will be allowed to attend the Eurovision song contest in Rotterdam in May as part of a Covid-19 trial, according to Dutch reports.

The event will be part of a series being held in the Netherlands under the name "fieldlab", which has allowed small crowds into a theatre, conference centre and a soccer match under strict monitoring, reports de Telegraaf.

Eurovision organisers had said in February that there would be some socially distanced events, but did not specify whether a live audience would be permitted.

A maximum of 3,500 people living in the Netherlands will be admitted to rehearsals, the semi-finals and finals taking place on May 18-22, a government official told the newspaper.

Performances will be given by 39 participating countries and fans will have to have a negative coronavirus test to attend.

The Netherlands is hosting the 65th edition of the event, which draws a television audience of around 200 million, after Dutch singer-songwriter Duncan Laurence won the 2019 contest with the song “Arcade”.

Last year’s contest was cancelled for the first time in its history due to the pandemic.

Last week, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said a nationwide curfew and other curbs aimed at containing the coronavirus will be extended by three weeks until late April because of rising infection rates.

The Dutch have reported more than 1.2 million infections and 16,500 deaths during the pandemic.

Additional reporting by Reuters