Irish government cancels St. Patrick’s Day parade over coronavirus fears

There will be much less green in Ireland this March than in previous years, as its government has cancelled the St. Patrick’s Day festival and parade amid growing concerns over the spread of the Covid-19 virus in the country.

The decision was made at a cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon and a press conference is expected to follow later in the day, state broadcaster RTE reported.

Doctors had been calling for the cancellation of the massive international event, which draws hundreds of thousands to Dublin every year – more than 100,000 of them from abroad – but the government had seemingly been dragging its feet on making the final decision.

Influenza expert Professor John Oxford advised last week that the Irish government should take the threat "a bit more seriously.”

Minister for Health Simon Harris said on Monday that there is a "moderate to high" possibility of Ireland having an outbreak on the scale of the one seen in Italy in recent weeks. He said Ireland anticipates a "rapid escalation of cases" in the coming days.

He defended the government's position not to ban flights from northern Italy, reiterating earlier comments that it would have "very little effect."

Other cities around the country, including Cork, also announced on Monday that their annual parades would not go ahead.

While the Dublin event is probably the most famous, it is not the biggest. New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade draws around two million people to the city every year.

So far, there are 33 confirmed cases of coronavirus across the island of Ireland, with the latest being through community transmission rather than in someone who had traveled back to the country from abroad.

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