Germany’s Oktoberfest—the folk festival for which more than six million partygoers and beer drinkers gather, has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Authorities of the southern state of Bavaria, where the festival is held, announced the decision on Tuesday.
The two-week-long festivities that take place in Munich makes more than 1 billion euros for the city each year.
The Oktoberfest had been scheduled to take place from September 19 to October 4.
The festival, which was first held to honour Bavarian Crown Prince’s wedding in 1810 would have Munich packed with tents with long wooden tables and oompah bands.
The mayor of Munich Dieter Reiter said he was sorry to disappoint the two million people who travel from all over the world for the annual festival and that it was a big blow to Bavarians, who don traditional lederhosen and dirndls for the festival.
Germany seems to have handled the COVID-19 pandemic relatively well, with a death toll of 4,598—a much lower number than other European nations like Spain and Italy. Spain saw approximately 20,852 deaths while Italy saw more than 24,000 deaths.
Some areas in Germany have started to relax lockdown measures, which introduced last month to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Big events, however, are still being banned until August. Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday urged Germans to be disciplined so that relapse in virus numbers is avoided.
Early aggressive testing and faith in the government by the citizens resulted in a remarkably low death count.
According to information by the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, the number of coronavirus cases is 143,457.
