DUBLIN, Jan 20 — Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin has been cancelled for the second year running as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, organisers said today.
In a Facebook message, the promoters said revellers “cannot gather on the streets for the St Patrick’s Festival Parade this March 17th” and outlined how celebrations will move online instead.
In 2019, an estimated 500,000 people attended the event and Irish media reported that around 100,000 were overseas visitors.
The 2020 parades were called off just one week before the national holiday, when the Irish traditionally flock to pubs to celebrate the nation’s patron saint.
Ireland was then on the cusp of the coronavirus pandemic with only 24 confirmed cases in the country.
Latest official figures published Tuesday reveal Ireland has suffered 2,708 deaths and 176,839 infections of Covid-19 to date.
According to Oxford University data, Ireland currently has the world’s highest rate of daily confirmed cases per capita.
The country is in the midst of a third nationwide lockdown, with schools, non-essential retail, pubs and restaurants shut for the month of January at least.
Prime Minister Micheal Martin has said the country now faces an unprecedented “tsunami of infection” after navigating two previous waves with relatively low death and case figures. — AFP
