Oktoberfest World's Largest Beer Drinking Festival Abandoned Due To COVID-19

JAKARTA - The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world has made many large event organizers ranging from music, sports and education to start canceling themselves. One of the canceled ones was Oktoberfest. This year, the Bavarian-style German Bavarian-style beer festival was canceled.

Through a tough decision, the Prime Minister of the State of South Germany, Markus Soeder revealed that the celebration, which is usually attended by six million people from all over the world, for a moment to enjoy a beer and sing the end was canceled on Tuesday, March 21.

Launching Reuters, organizing Oktoberfest is very risky as long as a vaccine has not been found. Because, even though the event had to be held in compliance with the rules for wearing masks and maintaining a distance from physical distancing, the threat was still too high.

"This is not a normal year and unfortunately a year without Oktoberfest. It hurts. This is very embarrassing," said Soeder.

Not only that. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said he regretted the disappointment of the two million people who traveled from abroad to attend the festival. He did not forget to say that the cancellation of the Oktoberfest had also been a blow to the citizens of Bavaria.

Moreover, Oktoberfest visitors can consume more than seven million liters of beer, one hundred cows, half a million chickens and more than 140 thousand sausages every year. Economically, Oktoberfest really helped the country of Bavaria to get more income.

This year marks the third time Germany has had to cancel Oktoberfest since it was first held. Meanwhile, since the last world war, this is the first time the festival has been absent. Previously, the festival had been canceled in 1854 and 1873 due to the cholera pandemic.

Even so, some parts of Germany have begun relaxing the lockdown rules introduced last month to slow the spread of the virus. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reminded her citizens to remain disciplined in avoiding COVID-19 after several easing steps have been taken.

Meanwhile, Germany as of Tuesday, April 22, has recorded 143,457 cases of COVID-19, with 4,598 deaths. Because of this, some states have begun requiring people who shop or those using public transportation to wear masks.