Organizers announced that the Salzburg Festival for Music and Drama will be held next August as scheduled, but with special measures taken to confront the threat posed by the emerging "Corona" virus.
While this event survived the global wave of cancellations of festivals caused by the epidemic, major changes were made to the 100th edition of the festival.
Instead of selling 230,000 cards as usual, only 80,000 will be sold, to allow communication to be tracked if there is a pandemic.
Organizers will also resort to a seating system for an audience similar to that used for airline tickets, with one group after another invited to sit rather than enter everyone at the same time. Onlookers will have to put on masks, and there will be no rest or food. The program has also been cut in half from 200 performances to 110, and measures have been taken to protect the performers who will also perform.
Artists must maintain a distance of at least one meter from their colleagues, such as members of orchestras, to undergo a weekly examination of the Corona virus, and to maintain records that monitor their health.
Austria, which has about nine million people, has so far registered 16,900 cases of "Covid-19" and fewer than 700 deaths.
• Onlookers have to put gags, and there will be no food.
• 80 thousand cards only instead of 230 thousand as before.