COVID-19 cases at Eurovision 2021

Over the weekend two positive cases were recorded at Eurovision in Rotterdam.

On Saturday a member of the Polish delegation tested positive, and overnight it was revealed a member of the Icelandic delegation had tested positive as well.

Both those positive cases are now in isolation with other members of their delegations are in self-isolation and undergoing testing.

It is believed these cases are not of the artists themselves.

Iceland's Daði & Gagnamagnið (Photo credit: EBU / Thomas Hanses)

This meant that both Iceland and Poland also missed the official opening event on the "Turquoise Carpet" last night.

Due to the positive cases, Malta and Romania also missed the event as they are staying in the same hotel as Iceland.

In a statement to the press the EBU said that,

"A range of strict measures, including isolation, social distancing and regular testing have been imposed on everyone on the advice of health professionals to ensure everyone’s safety.

We are deeply grateful for the support of the authorities in this, and to all the delegations, crew, venue staff and contractors for their willing co-operation to make sure the Contest can take place."

If an artist were to test positive to COVID-19 then they will be able to choose either their 'live-on-tape' performance (submitted in March by all delegations) or footage from a rehearsal conducted this week.

Event Supervisor Sietse Bakker previously told ESC Daily that,

"We have the Live-on-Tape back-up that we recorded over the past few months with all the participating delegations. We also recorded their second on-stage rehearsal as a back-up. Obviously, we hope we don’t need it but if it’s necessary, we have those at hand."

Australia is not competing in Rotterdam due to the pandemic and will be competing with a 'live-on-tape' performance.

Find out more about why Australia isn't on the ground in our FAQ article.

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