Events in Buenos Aires City and Province, including the massive Lollapalooza music festival, are to be postponed amid the coronavirus outbreak, officials have announced.
It was confirmed this morning that Lollapalooza, set to take place at the end of March at the Hipodromo de San Isidro, would be suspended due to coronavirus.
Buenos Aires Province Cabinet Chief Carlos Bianco announced that the risk of the holding the event had been evaluated, and that officials decided would be safest to suspend the event until further notice. The scale of the event, its attendance and the potential attraction of foreigners from other countries affected by the infectious disease to the show, were cited as reasons for the suspension.
“We are working on the reprogramming of the 2020 edition of Lollapalooza for the second half of this year,” Lollapalooza's organisers said in a statement on the show's website.
“Due to these unprecedented circumstances, our greatest priority is preserving the health and security of the public, artists, organisers, and acting on preventive measures advised by public and health authorities,” the statement continued.
One of many
Lollapalooza is one of several public spectacles in City and Proince that have been cancelled or postponed, due to the spread of Covid-19.
Officials confirmed that US pop group Maroon 5's show at the Campo Argentino de Polo tonight would not take place.
City Health Minister Fernán Quirós told Radio La Red that "the Maroon 5 concert will not take place – if they still don't know, I will confirm it with them right now."
Other shows – including concerts by Soda Stereo, Divididos, Karol G, Cazzuy and Tini Stoessel – have also been postponed.
To date, there are 21 confirmed cases of the virus in Argentina and there has been one death.
On Wednesday, City government officials announced that football games scheduled for the month of March would take place without fans due to public health concerns.
The secretariat initially said all March sports events had been suspended, but clarified that the measure only targeted events "due to take place in the next few days in which sports people coming from affected countries were due to take part."
It said the Fencing World Cup, South American Swimming Championships, Athletics Grand Prix and an Olympic boxing qualification tournament had been postponed.
“This does not include the Superligas Cup or the Libertadores Cup, because no South American Countries have local transmission,” Matías Lammens, the Minister of Tourism and Sports announced.
“Though everything is changing minute to minute” he clarified.
Human rights rally
President Alberto Fernandez also urged human rights organisations to reconsider their scheduled demonstrations for the National Day of Memory of Truth and Justice on March 24, the anniversary of the 1976 coup that brought the civic-military dictatorship to power.
“Yesterday (Wednesday) we asked ourselves about the mobilisations on March 24, which are very hard to contain, because people want to go out and express themselves.” Fernandez said.
He later added that it is important to avoid large accumulations of people because it “increases risk.
“I share in the need to maintain memory alive, but we are at risk.” Fernandez told Radio Mitre.
Mendoza follows suit
Governor of Mendoza Province Rodolfo Suárez said Thursday his region would also suspend all large events for the indefinite future, including Mendoza City's upcoming half-marathon.
The Copa de Superliga match between Godoy Cruz and Boca Juniors will also take place behind closed doors, he added.
Suárez said provincial officials would form a specialist committee to respond to the crisis. In terms of schooling, he added that "the suspension of classes is not [yet] justified."
– TIMES/NA
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