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Erfurt (dpa / th) - The Federal Garden Show (Buga) in Erfurt started on its first weekend with significant problems with corona tests for visitors. Especially on Sunday, numerous people were unable to make their planned visit to the garden show grounds because they had not been able to get a corona test in the city. "We had a lot of calls about it," said Buga managing director Kathrin Weiß on Sunday of the German press agency. The influx of the few open test sites in the city was so great that people had to be sent away again. According to Weiß, the flower show that opened on Friday was visited by 15,000 people on its first three days.
According to the stricter corona rules, a negative corona rapid test is required for Buga guests. The infection protection law with the federal emergency brake came at extremely short notice, said a city spokesman at the weekend. In the short space of time, the city had endeavored to «stamp something out of the ground quickly». Two additional contact points have been set up in the city. A Buga test center at the fair with capacities for thousands of people is not due to open until Wednesday.
Not only foreign visitors who came untested were caught off guard by the problems - in the hope of being able to do this in Erfurt.
Even locals who had registered their visit beforehand could not take it and sometimes had little understanding for it.
"It was clear that the emergency brake would come," said an angry Erfurt woman of the German press agency.
"You can't think about the tests two days in advance."
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According to information from Buga boss Weiß, most of the guests on the first weekend were locals, mostly holders of a season ticket.
On the colorfully planted Petersberg, a former fortress, and the second location Egapark, because of the infection protection rules, they could only inspect the colorfully planted outdoor area.
So far, Buga has sold 35,000 season tickets.
Exhibition halls such as the “Danakil” climate zone house in Egapark are not accessible to them for the time being.
This also applies to the exhibition on the history and philosophy of horticulture in St. Peter's Church.
The Federal Garden Show in Erfurt is open until October 10th.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210425-99-347470 / 3
Federal Garden Show