NEWCASTLE (CelebrityAccess) — A touring Australian music festival was canceled by public health officials with just a day to go before the gates opened, due to concerns over COVID 19.
The Lunar Electric music festival was scheduled to take place in Newcastle on December 18th but a statement released by public health officials on Friday said the event was cancelled under a public health order.
A statement from NSW Health said:
NSW Health considered that the ongoing spread of COVID-19 in the Newcastle area, where the majority of a record number of cases are the Omicron variant of concern, presents too great a risk for the festival to take place this weekend.
NSW Health has advised the organizers of the festival this afternoon of the cancellation.
NSW Health continues to be concerned about the ongoing spread of COVID-19 in the Newcastle area, where several venues and events have now seen extensive transmission.
NSW Health again asks everyone across the community to continue to be particularly careful and practice COVID-safe behaviors.
Festival organizers confirmed the cancellation with a post to the event’s Facebook page, writing:
We regret to inform that the NSW Government has directed us to cancel Lunar Electric this weekend in Newcastle. We have done everything we could, and followed all government directives in the lead up to this event. However, NSW Health has deemed the current outbreak situation too high risk for a festival to take place this weekend.
The festival, which featured a homegrown Australian hip-hop and EDM artists, announced a lineup that included Bliss N Eso, Bombs Away, Hooligan Hefs, Tigerlily, Timmy Trumpet and more.
The touring festival is next scheduled to stop on March 26th at Doug Jennings Park in in Queensland.
