The world’s largest annual beer festival, Germany’s Oktoberfest, is not likely to take place this year because of the coronavirus, the Bavarian premier said Thursday.
Oktoberfest was planned to take place from September 19 through October 4 this year, and usually attracts more than 6 million tourists to Munich each year to enjoy beers and traditional Bavarian foods together.
Markus Soeder, the premier of the southern German state of Bavaria, told Reuters that he was “skeptical” the famous festival will commence this year. He said he would make the final decision with Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter within two weeks.
Germany has reported 134,753 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, 3,856 have died from the virus and 77,000 have recovered. Germany has a population of 83 million.
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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