Covid levels up across UK as revellers head into festival-filled bank holiday weekend
ITV News Wales and West Correspondent Rupert Evelyn heard from festival-goers about their Covid concerns - or lack of
Coronavirus infection levels have risen across all four nations of the UK, latest figures show as revellers head to festivals and people prepare to enjoy the bank holiday weekend.
So should the large-scale events still be going ahead?
Music-lovers are being urged to test for Covid-19 before they go and when they return, and not to visit older or more vulnerable loved ones in the days after events in a bid to avoid spreading the virus.
At Reading Festival, a reveller told ITV News he hadn't had a single jab, adding: "I feel like if you come here, you have to accept you're going to get Covid."
One festival-goer told ITV News they had not had a single jab
Others spoke of the safety precautions they would take to protect others after arriving back home.
"I'm going to be safe when I get back, I'm not going to see anyone over the age of 22. If I were living at home with my family, I don't think I would have come," one attendee said.
Public Health England strategy response director Dr Susan Hopkins urged people to “do a test before you go, wear a face covering if you’re travelling to and from the festival if you’re using public transport, and socialise outside as much as possible”.
She added: “Make sure you take an LFD (lateral flow) test when you get home, and then test twice a week after having mixed with a large group of people, as you could have Covid-19 without having symptoms.
“Try and avoid seeing older or more vulnerable relatives so that you don’t pass anything on.”
The latest snapshot survey of infections by the Office for National Statistics shows one in 40 people in Northern Ireland had Covid-19 in the week to August 20.
The is equivalent to 43,300 people, and the highest level since estimates began in October.
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England's R value - which represents the average number of people each Covid-positive person goes on to infect - is between 1.0 and 1.1. Last week, it was between 0.9 and 1.2.
There have also been concerns about summer music festivals contributing to a spike, after thousands of cases were suspected to be linked to the Boardmasters festival in Cornwall and hundreds to Latitude Festival in Suffolk.
A number of big gatherings are being held this weekend, including the Reading and Leeds Festivals – where jabs will be offered across the two sites – and the Creamfields in Cheshire.
“Key trigger points” for the spread of the virus at a festival are indoor settings, said Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton.
“Where festival-goers are in a field, even in large numbers, the transmission risks will remain relatively low,” he said.
“It is the indoor shared spaces that are key, such as marquees, tents, or shared cars and use of public transport to and from the event.”
He said ideally attendees should have had their second jab a few weeks before the event, and that wearing masks and leaving windows and doors in enclosed spaces open could help.