This year’s Ballito Rage on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, north of Durban, has been cancelled amid fears of the spread of the newly discovered omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The rage, which ends on December 5th, is popular among young people, who also happen to be the most affected by the new variant.
The Rage was classified as a super spreader event last year when more than 800 people contracted the virus.
In a statement, event organisers say: “We take the safety of all our customers, staff, and suppliers extremely seriously. It is for this reason that the event organisers have taken the decision to cancel the remainder of Ballito Rage.”
The festival opened for the first time on Tuesday 30 November 2021 with unprecedented COVID-19 protocols in place, including mandatory vaccinations for all staff and guests and pre-arrival COVID-19 tests for all guests. A testing facility was located near the event site and staff testing commenced on 29 November 2021 and of the first 122 staff tested, zero presented positive.
“On 30 November, all remaining staff and all guests underwent COVID-19 tests at the testing centre near the event site prior to entering the event. Between 14:00 and 22:00, 940 guests and staff were tested and 32 guests and 4 staff presented positive results. The Department of Health were on-site and worked together with our team to conduct contact tracing and ensure isolation of positive individuals and staff as per government protocols,” say the organisers.
“After further exhaustive review this morning, consultation and guidance from the local and provincial Departments of Health and other key stakeholders, the decision was collectively made to cancel the event going forward based on the data now available to us.”
“It is our responsibility to do the right thing, based on facts, collaboration and the resources and tools we have available.
Festival organisers says ticket holders will receive further information in the coming days via email.
In earlier reports prior to cancellation of the event, event Spokesperson Darren Sandras had said they would only allow vaccinated people who present negative COVID-19 results into the rage.
Prior to cancellation, Sandras outlined safety precautions that were in place:
