Cannes Health Pass Confusion: Festival Says Non-EU Delegates Must Still Get 48-Hour Tests

UPDATE, 09:00 PT: Covid confusion reigns at Cannes today as the festival has now confirmed that vaccinated non-EU delegates must still get Covid tests every 48 hours, despite multiple attendees today being able to secure a ‘Health Pass’ that displays their fully-vaccinated status.

The fest just told us there has been a “misunderstanding” and that some health passes had been granted “by mistake”.

“There is absolutely no derogation for vaccinated non-EU citizens to avoid the PCR testing system in Cannes every 48 hours”, a rep clarified, adding that the confusion had arisen after an update to resolve bugs in the system.

Deadline spoke to attendees from the UK and Israel who had been granted a Health Pass from the festival today, which theoretically allows you access to everywhere without needing to display a test. The fest said today those passes will no longer be valid for entry to the Palais.

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ORIGINAL STORY, 06:59 PT: Cannes Film Festival has introduced a mid-event change to its Covid protocols, with non-EU visitors now able to collect a ‘health pass’ that allows them to avoid renewing negative Covid tests every 48 hours.

French and other EU delegates have been able to display vaccinated status to allow them entry to the Palais, screenings and some parties since the beginning of the event, but that has not applied to those arriving from outside of the Union.

The passes are available from Gare Maritime. They have proven quite popular today and there was a 30-minute wait to collect one earlier.

Non-fully-vaccinated attendees will still need to continue getting tested at the on-site facility. The testing process has been largely smooth to-date. All in all, the majority seem happy with the festival’s Covid protocols, though the disregard with which some have been ignoring them has been a continual frustration.

Thierry Fremaux spoke publicly today in front of several public screenings, including Mark Cousins’ The The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, to deny that there were any clusters and added that yesterday (July 9) there had been zero positive cases recorded at the fest. Deadline had the exclusive yesterday that the festival was recording an average of three positive cases per day, prior to today.