300 people locked at a Festival site because of Coronavirus

Imagine: you’ve spent a fortnight gurning to rib-shaking basslines. You’ve spent hazy afternoons listening to the wisdom of indigenous elders. And you’ve lazed on the sand with a bunch of globe-trotting hippies on Playa Chiquita, one of Central America’s most beautiful beaches.

But as you reach the end of your music festival, you realise something’s not quite right. You’re actually stuck here – or more accurately, you’re trapped by local police and their fear of coronavirus.

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TO ALL ATTENDEES AND FOLLOWERS OF TRIBAL GATHERING: Update!!!!⭐️⭐️⭐️ The government and health officials have now decided to go back to the original mandate of allowing all nationals who have entered Panama over 14 days ago to exit the location. Those who have not must remain here in quarantine on site until they reach the 14 day period which could mean people actually staying here longer than the 23rd. In the wake of the President of Panama declaring a national emergency due to COVID-19/novel coronavirus, Panama’s Minister of Health has taken the extraordinary step of ordering all Tribal Gathering guests currently on site to remain in place until March 23. However, this was NOT in response to a positive COVID-19 test. There have been ZERO cases of COVID-19 confirmed on site, nor are any suspected at this time. Nevertheless, we are complying with all orders and recommendations of the Minister of Health, as the health and safety of our guests and crew remains our top priority. We also continue to work with the embassies of our guests from outside Panama to secure their assistance and support. Please contact the embassy of your family member’s home country for further information. @usembpan @who @bbcnews @vice @viceenespanol @un_ocha @who send help! @cnn @cnnee @nytimes @forbes @nationalpost @navara.media @cbsnews

A post shared by Tribal Gathering (@tribalgatheringpanama) on Mar 16, 2020 at 5:32pm PDT

Border police have now surrounded the festival, entrapping the people that hadn’t quite managed to get away in time and leaving them to work out the distribution of whatever rations were left.

“We are in close contact with travel providers and our international partners to provide support to those British people affected by ongoing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”