Germany: Oktoberfest and other major events likely to be cancelled due to COVID-19 crisis

Germany’s popular annual beer festival, Oktoberfest, which is also the world’s largest annual beer festival, is likely to be aborted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The festival was planned to take place from September 19 to October 4 this year, which normally attracts more than 5 million tourists every year. As per the latest news reports, Markus Soedar, Premier of the Southern German State of Bavaria, told the reporters that he is ‘skeptical’ about the festival taking place this year. He, however, added that the final decision will be taken with Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter within two weeks.
Apart from this famous festival, all the other major events, such as concerts, trade fairs, festivals, and football matches that attract tons of crowds in Germany, will not be allowed to take place this summer to contain the spread of Coronavirus. As per the guidelines, the government stated that large-scale events play a crucial role in spreading the virus infection.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, from the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), stated that all the prominent events will be banned in principle till the end of August. This move comes in the wake of current lockdown restrictions, along with making all the efforts to combat against the deadly virus.
Reportedly, strict regulations will be implemented by the respective states regarding the cancellation of the events. As of now, it can be expected that more information will be made available in the coming weeks. As per the initial discussions, all the major fests, funfairs, beer festivals of this year will be affected.

Further, some organisers have even started announcing cancellations, including the Wacken Open Air Festival, which was supposed to take place from July 30 to August 1, 2020.