Coronavirus: Bayside Council postpones Lunar New Year event
With more than a hundred dead and thousands infected yet another Sydney council has decided to put its Lunar New Year celebrations on hold.
Southern Courier
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Bayside Council has postponed its Lunar New Year celebration following rising concern about the coronavirus outbreak.
The outbreak, which originated in China, has now resulted in four people being diagnosed in NSW with the potentially-deadly virus.
Bayside Council has made the decision to postpone its Lunar New Year event originally scheduled for Saturday, February 1 in Mascot.
Mayor Joe Awada said it was “unprecedented times” in making the call.
Bayside is the latest council in Sydney to make the precautionary move following in the footsteps of Ryde Council.
“Due to the ongoing coronavirus situation and the associated health concerns, the Bayside Lunar New Year event scheduled for Saturday 1 February 2020 has been postponed,” a Bayside Council spokesman said.
Mayor Awada said it was not the right time to hold it.
“Bayside Council cannot guarantee the event would be well attended if it was to proceed.
“We are in unprecedented times with 2020 starting in a way that has not been previously
experienced.
“Our Lunar New Year event is a celebration and one of the most important events on our calendar, however it is just not the right time for us to proceed.”
A future date for the festival is yet to be decided.
The coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak was first detected in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province.
There are now reportedly thousands of confirmed cases of infection in mainland China.
Australian authorities stationed biosecurity officers at Sydney Airport to check passengers travelling from Wuhan.
Flights out of the province have since been stopped.
The infection can spread from person-to-person and can take up to 14 days for symptoms to show after a person has been infected, according to the Health Department.
There is no known vaccine to prevent the virus.