into the long grass . figures from the office of national statistics suggest the proportion of people working from home more than doubled last year compared to 2019. last year, covid restrictions wiped out the uk s summer festival season. this year, despite many events being delayed or cancelled, some are going ahead. download festival, at donington park near derby, is one of them. it s taking place this weekend as part of the government s live event pilot scheme. the crowd is smaller and all those attending have had to have a negative covid test. our correspondent luxmy gopal reports. they seem like scenes from pre pandemic times, rather than just this weekend. no masks and no keeping two metres apart. after all, you can t do social distancing in a mosh pit. the download festival pilot is a huge stepping up of the government s testing of live events. three days long, with capacity for 10,000 happy campers.
capacity crowd and no masks or social distancing. this weekend s download festival pilot is the latest in the government s testing of live events, and hosts the first legal mosh pit since the start of the pandemic. to be back here, it s incredible. i ll go through every guideline and jump through every hoop they want me to do get back here like this. live festivals are basically what i want to do with my spare time, and live music, so it sjust incredible to be here again and experience that. everyone attending the festival has had to get a negative result in their lateral flow test and in their pcr test and fill out a questionnaire on their health online. people are going to be living on site, we are going to understand that sort of living and socialising interaction but also we re going to have a large scale stage type events and be able to look at the science and understanding of the things like the mosh pits. covid levels have risen recently, with most cases amongst the under 25s.
and jump through every hoop they want me to do get back here like this. live festivals are basically what i want to do with my spare time, and live music, so it sjust incredible to be here again and experience that. everyone attending the festival has had to get a negative result in their lateral flow test and in their pcr test and fill out a questionnaire on their health online. people are going to be living on site, we are going to understand that sort of living and socialising interaction but also we re going to have a large scale stage type events and be able to look at the science and understanding of the things like the mosh pits. covid levels have risen recently, with most cases amongst the under 25s. 0ne fifth of people here fall into that demographic. that age group are gathering together, wherever they are. actually what they re doing here is gathering together safely because they re all being tested before they gather. limits on crowd sizes were set to be lifted on monday by
at the site, and what has been called the first moshing since covid. the event will help guide government policy. people are going to be living on site so we re going to understand that kind of living and socialising interaction, and also we re going to have large scale stage type events, and understand the science of things like the mosh pits. but with a recent rise in the covid infection rate, driven by the delta variant, should these events be going ahead? we ll do our best to reduce the risks. i think the question for the future is the one you ask what level of risk are we happy to take with these sorts of events? i think we ll be able to calibrate that through the research that we re doing. data suggests cases are spreading mainly among the under 25s. around a fifth of people here are that demographic. that age group are gathering together wherever they are. actually what they re doing here is gathering together safely, because they re all being tested before they gather. limits
here again and experience that. strict measures are in place to allow this level of freedom at the site. the event will help guide government policy. people are going to be living on site so we are going to understand that kind of living and socialising interaction and also, we are going to have a large scale stage type event and be able to look at the science and understanding of things like the mosh pits. we do the maximum in our power at events to reduce the risk. i think the question for the future is the one that you ask is what level of risk are we happy to take with the sort of events? i think we will be able to calibrate that through the research we are doing. data suggests cases are spreading mainly among the under 25s. around a fifth of people here are that demographic. that age group are gathering together wherever they are. what they are doing here is gathering together safely