The Hong Kong government has announced the cancellation of the traditional New Year’s fireworks countdown event. The Hong Kong government’s Tourism Board said Friday (Dec. 4) that the 2021 fireworks countdown event scheduled for Dec. 31 in Victoria Harbour and the Chinese New Year float parade have been cancelled due to the impact of the new coronary pneumonia outbreak.
Hong Kong media reported that the Hong Kong government has tightened social distancing measures to prevent the spread of the virus in the fourth wave of the epidemic. The HKTB announced that there will be different arrangements for the “Hong Kong Winter Parade”, “New Year’s Eve Countdown” and “Chinese New Year Celebration”, among others.
In previous years, the HKTB has invited famous performing groups from all over the world to come to Hong Kong to participate in the International Chinese New Year Festival to celebrate the Lunar New Year. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, it is difficult for overseas performance teams to arrive in Hong Kong to participate in the 2021 Chinese New Year festivities, so the HKTB will cancel the classic event of the float parade. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post says that this New Year in Hong Kong is destined to be a “not-so-happy New Year”.
The HKTB says that although there will be no parade for the upcoming Chinese New Year festivities, it is working on a combination of online and offline celebrations.
This is the second year in a row that Hong Kong does not have a New Year’s Eve fireworks display. Last year, there was a controversy over an amendment to the law, and the HKTB canceled the event to avoid a large crowd gathering.
According to the latest statistics of the Hong Kong Department of Health, as of 00:00 on December 4, 112 new cases of coronary pneumonia were diagnosed in Hong Kong, including 12 cases imported from abroad and 100 cases diagnosed locally, of which 36 cases were of unknown origin, and about 80 cases were initially diagnosed (the first count of positive test cases). Up to now, the total number of new coronary pneumonia cases diagnosed in Hong Kong is 6,702, with 112 deaths.
In addition to the cancellation of New Year’s Eve and Lunar New Year celebrations, the Hong Kong government has also increased penalties for violations of epidemic prevention measures. Radio Television Hong Kong reported that the Hong Kong government increased the fines for violating the “Restriction of Gathering Order”, “Masks Order”, and non-compliance with the “Compulsory Testing Order” from RMB 2,000 to RMB 5,000. The amendments to the law will take effect next Friday.
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