A festival -goer at the Bazique festival in the Western Cape has been confirmed to have tested positive for coronavirus.
Photo: Twitter/Jonx Pillemer
A festival -goer at the Bazique festival in the Western Cape has been confirmed to have tested positive for coronavirus.
Photo: Twitter/Jonx Pillemer
Rumours that had been circulating about a person who attended popular music festival Bazique earlier in March having been tested positive for COVID-19 have been confirmed as true.
The organisers had not clarified the details and rumours were rife that the event may have been compromised. With fears growing about the potential for South Africa to be affected, event goers at the time had opted to give the event a miss and there were just under 1000 people in attendance.
Organisers confirm case
The person in question only attended the party on it’s third day, having arrived at the venue at the Ruitersvlei wine estate in Paarl, Western Cape, at 11:00 on Sunday 15 March and left at 07:00 on Monday 16 March.
The Western Cape currently has 100 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
In a statement, organisers of Bazique said that he had only frequented one of the many bars available to customers at the event.
“Hi Bazique Fam, there was a South African male at the festival on Sunday between 11am – 7pm who has tested positive for coronavirus.”
“He was not at the festival at all on either the Friday or the Saturday and so was not in any of the enclosed spaces – he was only at the outdoor Beach Bar Stage and only on Sunday afternoon.“
“We have spoken to him in person and currently he is not showing any of the usual symptoms and has said he is feeling OK at the moment.”
Take precautions
They said that they couldn’t be sure if he had contracted the virus by the time he got his dancing shoes on and headed to the party.
“There is no certainty that he was positive at the festival – he may have contracted the disease after the event – however, we have made a commitment to keeping our community informed and so are doing so. We recommend observing the current government-issued guidelines about self isolating how to best conduct ourselves in these difficult times.”
The festival went ahead on the same day that events like AfrikaBurn and Bushfire announced that they would be postponing and cancelling their events for 2020 as fears over the spread of the virus suddenly hit fever-pitch.
If you attended the festival, it’s recommended that you seek medical advise and get yourself checked – if only as a precaution and measure – to ensure that those around you are not affected further.
