UNUM Festival in Albania will take place in 2021 with COVID-19 rapid testing measures in place. The country is the first in the world to allow such measures for gatherings.
According to a statement, the festival’s organizers worked with Albania’s Ministry of Tourism and Environment and Ministry of Health to obtain approval. “Everyone attending the festival will be tested beforehand or have the vaccine if it will have arrived by that time,” reads a passage. “The advancing technology and accuracy of rapid tests currently allows for results within 10-15 minutes, which is all that would be required to ensure you can enjoy the festival in the way it should be enjoyed!”
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2019 marked the debut of UNUM Festival; it was headlined by Ricardo Villalobos, Margaret Dygas and Raresh, among others. All three were slated to return for the 2020 event in addition to the likes of Seth Troxler, tINI and Tatu – but it was canceled in April as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded.
While Albania may be the first country to authorize rapid testing at such a gathering, others are expected to imminently follow suit. Event management and logistics company Swallow Events has introduced services that will enable rapid testing at scale for organizers throughout the U.K., and the country became the first to approve the deployment of Pfizer and BioNTech‘s vaccine.
The 2021 edition of UNUM Festival is slated to take place from June 3rd-7th on the beaches of Shenghin in the Albanian Riviera. More information can be found on the event website.