HÀ NỘI — All traditional festivals in Hà Nội will be temporarily postponed until the first full moon day of the new lunar year (February 26) in an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19, authority officials have said.

Vice-Chairman of the Hà Nội People’s Committee, Chử Xuân Dũng urged all districts and local areas where traditional festivals will take place this month to strictly follow the city’s direction to suspend all cultural activities until the full moon of Lunar January to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

He issued the instruction at a meeting of the city’s Steering Committee for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 on Saturday in the capital.

“It is better to be a little bit slow but safe rather than having to be isolated for a month… When the whole commune or district is in isolation, it will affect the social life of the community, even the socio-economic development of the whole city,” Dũng said when asking Mỹ Đức District to stop cultural activities, including the welcoming visitors to the annual Hương Pagoda festival in the area.

Reporting on the prevention of COVID-19 in the capital city, Deputy Director of the Hà Nội’s Department of Health Hoàng Đức Hạnh said that the pandemic situation in the country and in the world was still complicated and from February 10-13, in Hà Nội, two new cases of COVID-19 were reported.

“The health sector is continuously conducting strict isolation and testing of all cases entering Hà Nội to proactively monitor and prevent the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Hạnh

Regarding activities of the Hương Pagoda Festival, the authority in Mỹ Đức said the district would follow the city’s instructions.

The festival’s Steering Committee officially announced to stop all activities at the Hương Pagoda and will not welcome visitors to the festival.

Earlier, Nguyễn Bá Hiển, head of the Management Board of the Hương Sơn Historical and Scenic Complex in Mỹ Đức District, said the Hương Pagoda Festival in 2021 would be cancelled for the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The festival takes place annually for three months, from February 13 to the end of May 5. The opening ceremony of the festival is held on the sixth day of the first month in the lunar calendar every year.

Before the festive season, all preparations have been made seriously. The organiser of the festival has also made plans to flexibly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, due to the complex developments of the pandemic, the district decided not to hold the festival and also stop receiving visitors.

On the same day, the organising committee of the Đống Đa Festival, one of the major traditional events of the city in early spring, which usually takes place on the fifth day of the first month in the lunar calendar, also decided to cancel the festival. — VNS

Read original story on Vietnam News