The decision to cancel the carnival parade scheduled to take place between 26 February and 1 March is justified in a statement, by the municipality, as due to the increase in the number of infections by the Omicron variant of the new coronavirus “which does not allow timely planning of its programming” .

“Once again, we took this difficult decision, aware that this is the right path because Carnival is an event conducive to social contact, as it brings together an average of 70,000 visitors annually”, justifies the mayor of Loulé.

For Vítor Aleixo, “this new variant [Omicron] is extremely contagious, which could lead to an increase in the spread of the virus [Sars-Cov-2] in the municipality of Loulé, something that we want to avoid at all costs”.

“By cancelling our parade, we prioritise the health of our community”, claims the mayor.

The municipality added that it is considering carrying out initiatives that reinforce the importance of this event, but that do not jeopardise the health security of the population.

This is the second year in a row that the Loulé Carnival parade has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.