Organisers of this year's Latitude updated their site last Friday (19 March) with a series of FAQ's relating to the festival and how it will be proceeding this year in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
The update comes after the UK Prime Minister discussed the various stages of easing the current coronavirus lockdown restrictions in England last month, with Boris Johnson saying he hopes to see the end of all "legal limits on social contact" by 21 June.
This year's festival, which is due to take place at Suffolk's Henham Park from 22-25 July, is due to be headlined by Lewis Capaldi, Bastille and Snow Patrol, with many more artists yet to be announced.
Latitude founder and creator Melvin Benn wrote in a statement on the site, "Latitude is a very special festival and we can’t wait to get back to Henham Park, but we will only do that if the prevailing situation in the UK is deemed safe by the government’s Chief Medical Officer and all necessary safety protocols are in place at the event. To that end, I have been working very closely with a number of leading doctors including the Public Health Department at Imperial College London to demonstrate that it can be done safely."
Benn continued, "We are confident that our hard work in conforming to the protocols, plus the fact that all UK adults are due to have been offered the vaccine before the festival takes place, PLUS the news of large scale test events rolling out in April and May, will mean that we really can go ahead."
The FAQ's confirm that if the festival is postponed or cancelled, ticket holders will be entitled to a full refund, or can choose to roll over their tickets to 2022. The questions also confirm that the festival will "run at full capacity" in July, "as per government guidelines about full capacity reopening from June 21st". One of the other FAQ's asks about vaccination requirements. Organisers wrote, "The government are not mandating vaccination so it won’t be mandatory at Latitude, but we will be testing to ensure those without vaccination are Covid clear before they enter the festival."
