As the impact of the coronavirus and COVID-19 is felt around Europe, the Israeli delegation is taking more precautions relating to Eurovision. Singer Eden Alene will NOT be travelling to The Netherlands to film her Eurovision postcard, following new travel rules from Israel’s Ministry of Health.
Ynet reports that the Israeli delegation has confirmed that Eden will not travel to The Netherlands for the planned postcard shoot. This follows the Israel Ministry of Health’s strict new guidelines surrounding travellers returning to Israel from abroad.
The broadcaster has said it will try to find another solution for shooting Eden’s Eurovision postcard.
Israel’s Ministry of Health regulations regarding COVID-19
On 6 March, Israel’s Ministry of Health released a new order requiring all travellers arriving in Israel to go into quarantine. The rule applies to both Israelis returning from abroad as well as tourists arriving from other countries.
This new order would mean that if Eden and the Israeli team travel to the Netherlands, they would have to quarantine themselves for 14 days upon their return. This is despite there being no official coronavirus epidemic in The Netherlands.
Coronavirus precautions
Israel is being extremely precautious regarding the coronavirus. For this reason, the Israel delegation chose not to attend the Heads of Delegation meeting in person. Israel’s representative instead participated by video link.
On the weekend, Danish broadcaster DR chose to hold its national final without a live arena audience, following advice from the Danish government. The EBU has given Heads of Delegation the option of staying home and remotely attending today’s Heads of Delegation meeting.
The EBU and the host broadcasters of Eurovision 2020 are said to be monitoring the situation. Last month a spokesperson from the city of Rotterdam said, “We monitor everything closely and are prepared for all possible risks and threats.”
What do you think? Could Eden film her postcard remotely? Share your thoughts below!
What about Senhit and Diodato? I mean they’re probably not gonna be able to travel either, at least right now :/
You guys need to relax. They are just saying the postcard is not important enough to fly to Netherlands at this time. Nothing else will be affected. Worst case scenario they film the contest without a crowd but I seriously doubt it will come to that. Two months from now things will be different.
Worried about Eden Alene!
I hope that Eden Alene will be OK!
That is, Israel will refuse Eurovision?
Oh oh oh
We are lost in Corona
Weren’t the postcards from 2017 filmed in Ukraine during eurovision, between rehearsals? Israel and other countries who are worried about corona can do that…
Only the first few seconds of each postcard was filmed on a set in Ukraine. The rest was filmed in the participating country. So no, they did not film them “between rehearsals”
Well anyways, not that hard to film a little sequence of 30 seconds in Rotterdam
If it’s just her then yes, they can definitely shoot something when She comes there for the contest. If they will have more acts that won’t come to shoot the postcard, they will have a problem.
They can easily fit shooting the postcard into the schedule by arriving into the Netherlands 1-2 days early in May. They did the only practical thing given the announced quarantine by the Israeli government,
do you think Italy will be coming to ESC? i have a strong feeling they will not after what happening there.
Azerbaijan song is out! And said the words gay and bi (in between)….Bravo, very good song and video clip!
Azerbaijan is also released now (Cleopatra by samira)
I cannot blame Eden. No one wants this unfortunate news to happen as she has no choice. Her decision to back out is wise enough as she should prioritise her health first.
They also shooting the video clip
Given the fact that Dotter has asthma… maybe its not too bad she has not been sent this year. The corona would have sung forever rest in peace
How long does it take to film the postcards? If I remember correctly the 2003 postcards were filmed when all the artists had arrived in Latvia. I know there is twice the number of postcards to film. But they don’t have to be that complicated do they?
The patient is alive. Albania gets my love!
We all know you don’t have love for anything. You never wrote a single positive comment. The mirror must crumble when you show your stone-faced grimace. 🙂
Guys, I’m really sad.. I sincerely hope this won’t ruin the contest now that it’s finally in The Netherlands.. Others may not care but to have it without people in Ahoy would be really bad.. 🙁
You mean it would be an economic disadvantage to the Dutch broadcaster? Oh well.
I don’t know why is everyone talking about canceling Eurovision. If the Covid-19 situation doesn’t get better untill May why couldn’t they just change the date of eurovision to let’s say August
Yes, the most I think they would do is postpone it until July or August. They wouldn’t outright cancel it straight away.
guys, Arilena’s revamp is out
Listening now.
I don’t know what to make of it!
Edit: Then, I hear the 3rd minute and wow.
I do. They just saved themselves.
It took a while but I really thought I’d get through all the songs without hearing a *winner*-quality song.
Am SO glad I was wrong.
I actually felt this song. I didnt feel ‘Shaj’ at all. Outstanding revamp.
I don’t think my country (Italy) is going to partecipate 🙁
you must! you have a beautiful song!
I think you guys won’t. Blame it on the stupid government that didn’t take it seriously.
Allow me to double down: If this year turns out to be the first one of modern times where the performances will not be ruined by idiots waving their flags in front of the performers, it will actually be the best Eurovision show ever for the viewers.
Suggestion – if by May things havent calmed down and the situation is similar to now or worse. Have the eurovision with no crowd, and allow artists who wish to do so to perform in an arena in their home country instead, livestreaming. It would be a one-time thing for 2020 due to the pandemic. Different countries have different rules, some allow travel, some have stricter restrictions. If the current situation gets worse, the delegations should have the option of livestreaming. If the delegations hear “come here in person or cancel,” many will cancel. It would be annoying and wouldnt… Read more »
Stop being so pathetic
I think it would be perfectly fine for anyone in any year to just do the rehearsals and actual live shows and no other program at all. Eurovision is made for us viewers and not the self-important fangirls going cray on the ground. It’s all fine. The delegations can all get tested and Corona won’t make it to the stage, at least.
I didn’t say anything about a quarantine. I meant they don’t have to suffer through all the pretend journalism fan encounters and just enjoy themselves
Let’s hope that won’t be necessary. But I must say, I like how Israel protects its people. Personally, I would like Austria to be just as strict. We’d probably have less infections.
I am glad they acted to prevent a bigger outbreak coming from Italy but compared to Israel, it was too little, too late. We do have numerous infections here.
Okay… But what she’s gonna do when may comes around. Will she sit in lockdown in a hotel room for 24/7 when there are no rehearsals for 2 weeks long? This is literally the worst year we could have ever won. If the whole thing gets cancelled we’ll have made millions of losses for nothing.
I don’t get why they can’t just do it without an audience if this crisis prevails until May.
Ofcourse that would mean that people still need to travel there. If everyone is so ridiculously panicked that they don’t even dare to do that, it won’t work out anyway.
EBU won’t leave you with that 😉
You’ll present us a great show in May.
With or without audience in the arena…. but with even more numbers of watching at home. Trust me.
What to watch if you’re stuck at home when coronavirus is knocking your door? -You watch ESC and the virus will surrender.
Why don’t they simply move the contest to Jupiter?
Naah, they don’t have the right venue, that EBU could accept. Also I heard that there is lack of knowledge of La langue Francais (as we all know, it’s VERY important and needed at ESC) 🙂
I think there’s already cases of Coronavirus there
We lost and we found our Corona.
And probably she’s not the only one…
Maybe they’ll have to change the concept for all postcards…
It looks like due to many unexpected spendings Netherlands will pay for hosting more than the others in the past. And it’t not just about the money…
Yes, I’m Dutch and I was looking forward to it the whole year. I would be sad if next year we just move on to another country. (Not sure which one it would be then) But health is more important of course.
I was just thinking about the Dutch fans today. You’ve waited for this victory for so many years, and I know how exciting and fulfilling it is to have your country host the greatest show on earth.
You guys deserve the full host country experience and I hope that whatever the EBU eventually decide, would enable the Netherlands to host the contest at full power, with all the delegations and fans coming over, partying hard and filling Rotterdam AHOY, even if it means rescheduling the contest.
If somehow Eurovision 2020 will be cancelled, I hope they would let all artists chosen to sing their songs in 2021 and not just move on to choose other artists and entries
They could just do it without audience like DMGP. What’s the big deal?
But if they cancel it please let the songs go down with it. This lineup is not nearly good enough to spend 2 years on.
I hope they’ll do it like DMGP
But if they still want to cancel it, whether you think the songs are good or not, I think it’s only fair to let the artists still compete
I mean, it’s not that I don’t like the songs, it’s just that most of them are a little low-energy to keep me hyped for 1.5 years. And it’s also just not the spirit of Eurovision to have them out there for that long. The rules are in place for a reason. There would be no build-up towards the actual contest in 2021 and the less interested masses would probably be bored with their entries or have forgotten them already. Interest and ratings would go down and the contest just can’t afford that.
What’s the big deal? Maybe that we finally won and people like me and my mother, who has been a fan since the sixties, were able to get tickets when we didn’t even expect to get so lucky. Not every Eurovision fan has the means to just go to whichever country wins that year. If the next time we win takes another 40 years, it might take 40 years for me to finally attend the event I’ve been a huge fan of since my early childhood. And by then, my mother won’t even be alive anymore. Eurovision without audience is… Read more »
Nobody really cares about the postcards.
She’ll film her postcard via Skype probably, lol
I wonder if the third wave of ticket sales on the 26th will still go ahead
I think that’s when we can expect some news.
Somewhere in China…
-“What’s good on the menu here?”
-“Ahhh, we have Bat baguette, Bat soup, Bat n’ Beets salad, fried Bat wings, shish keBat…”
– “I’ll have the Bat soup for starters and then the shis keBat.”
– “Very good choice, Sir. Would you like anything to drink with it?”
– “hmmm, yes – do you have any beer?”
– “Yes, Sir – we have Carlsberg, Budweiser, Corona…”
– “Corona, please!
…..
How racist.
How is that racist?? It mocks their eating habits. Not their race.
the fact that you need to ask how it is racist is a testament to how far the human race has fallen
Humor seems to be dead in your version of the human race. I won’t join. lol
yes, humour is amazing when is degrading to another race. I am laughing so hard right now at blatant racism and sinophobia. I should be laughing harder, since racism is so incredibly funny, Mr. Vanilla Bean. Ha f*cking ha.
Mama wants you to put a euro in the swear jar. lol
How is that racist, @Ashton? I can only guess you have an itching instinct to yell racism before putting a minimal thought to it. This is a humorous bit, that states a fact from which the virus originated and a funny way it got its name. No one said Chinese people are bad, or raised a conspiracy based on their origins, let alone race. If anything, your patronizing attitude in calling this “racism” as if you are the knight in shining armor, protecting the racial honor of the Chinese people is by itself pure racism. If anything comes out of… Read more »
Thanks for calling me an imbecile, Urdaf, how very mature of you. It is racist because it plays upon the stereotype that Chinese people eat bats/cats/dogs, et cetera, when in fact it is quite uncommon (although I will admit it does occur). This stereotype is perpetuated by much of the western media, in order to portray the Chinese people as dirty or unsafe, which they are not. I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t understand how you are being racist, however, though I do applaud your use of well-formed arguments instead of just blindly attacking me (I am not being… Read more »
I suggest you look up racism in a dictionary, Ashton. I assumed you wouldn’t call a Balkan vegan, describing a beef eating Texan, in a humorous way (and yes it was humorous, but as people stated here already – humor is probably beyond you) – a Racist. The fact that you shout so loud “racism” does not make it true, just put you, yes, in an imbecilic light.
Btw, no need to apologize for making insanely dumb remarks. I forgive you no matter what, and I hope you’ll find the light.
This was so unfunny and funny at the same tume lmao 😀
I’m Chinese and I approve this comment. Mainland China should be responsible for the whole tragedy.
Actually researchers say pangolins were the initial disease carrier of covid 19.it were the chinese who ate them though xD
Virus should disappear when temperatures gets higher. Hope everything will be ok in May 🙂
What is your source on this? There are no indications that this virus is affected and spreading faster or slower in warmer or colder temperatures. So what do you base this assumption on? That this is common for other viruses? Now, why is corona spreading in Malaysia with tropical climate, if it will slow down in warmer temperatures?
SARS-CoV spread in colder regions, while MERS-CoV spread in warmer regions. SARS-CoV-2 is not yet fully examined to make a statement like that. Please only spread validated information.
I thought China’s stats were at their lowest since the beginning of the epidemic? They closed all their Coronavirus hospitals but one and said this shows the disease is getting under control.
Yes, because they have been in quarantine for almost three months, not because of the temperature
There are indicators. Just look at how it doesn’t spread nearly as fast, sometimes not at all, in southern regions of the globe.
It probably won’t get hot enough here until May to really affect this virus, but the general statement that warmer temperatures will slow it down is true.
Wishful thinking. The temperatures in Italy right now are the same as temperatures in the Netherlands in May!
So naive.
That’s a shame. What’s weird is that Lesley Roy was talking about Eurovision pre-parties she was aiming to participate in, and named London, Amsterdam, Madrid…and Tel Aviv. This in spite of no word about Tel Aviv bringing their pre-party back (and it doesn’t look likely now, that’s for sure).
“What, no more party in Tel Aviv?
Ah. Story of my Life.”
All international events in Israel are banned. Israel has taken one of the strictest measures in the world. From Thursday 12 March, anyone entering Israel from abroad must go into 14 days quarantine.
We are lucky Israel doesn’t host it this year. The government would just cancel it without blinking, forcing the EBU to move it somewhere else.
As much as I love eurovision, I will accept and understand whatever the authorities decide when it comes to this. We cant know if this will get worse or better, and it’s a challenge humanity hasnt faced since 1918. Better safe than sorry.
Where did you get this year? This isn’t nearly as bad as the Spanish flu and it’s irresponsible to pretend it is. People are in too much panic already.
If we go back in time, the Spanish flu is the latest pandemic with higher spreading and death rate than covid-19, making this current pandemic more significant than anyone around has experienced in his lifetime.
This flu seems to be less deadly, and we dont have the same lack of information, malnourishments and crowded unhygienic medical camps as back then. Still, we are more mobile now, millions of people are in quaranteen and thousands are dead. It needs to be taken seriously if we want it to ever pan off.
It is simply not true to say “the Spanish flu is the latest pandemic with higher […] death rate than covid-19”. Spreading maybe, but not death rate. For example the SARS epidemic of 2002, often branded a pandemic, had less spreading, but a death rate of approximately 10%.
I’m not denying that corona is bad, it’s just a little dramatic and not very helpful to compare it to the spanish flu in my opinion.
Other delegations should follow suit.
It’s concerning me more and more that our Eurovision 2020 will be significantly hampered by this virus and the restrictions and lockdowns that are now coming into effect since the big spike in Italy in March. At best, if the virus measures intensify, it looks like the Contest would be performed to an empty arena, like Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2020. Keeping my best wishes for speedy improvements all round!