The Baranquilla carnival, declared by UNESCO as a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’, it was postponed until March 2022 due to the covid-19 pandemic, which with the omicron variant experiences a fourth peak of infections in Colombia.
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The most popular party in the country was scheduled to be held from 2February 6 to March 1, but it will run for a few weeks, as announced Monday by the mayor of Barranquilla, Jaime Pumarejo.
“We have made the decision to postpone the Barranquilla Carnival so that it begins on the weekend of March 25, 2022, to give Barranquilla residents the peace of mind to enjoy the traditions when this fourth peak has evolved favorably.“, the mayor told the press.
On January 11 Pumarejo had already canceled several massive events, such as the Reading of the side, which traditionally take place in the weeks prior to Carnival, as a preventive measure due to the increase in cases of covid-19 by the omicron.
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At that time Pumarejo explained that “to have Carnival in February and other events that generate employment and preserve traditions, the city will make a great effort in January as a preventive measure“.
According to statistics from the health authorities, Barranquilla began 2022 with 48 daily infections of covid-19, but on Sunday, January 23, the number of new cases reached 1,966, showing an increase of more than 4,000%.
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This figure contrasts with the numbers of vaccination coverage against covid-19 in the city, which show that 97% of the population has at least one dose, while 930,000 of the 1.4 million inhabitants have the complete scheme.
Until the arrival of the pandemic in Colombia, Barranquilla had celebrated its traditional Carnival during 155 years, but in 2021 shows such as the Battle of Flowers, the Great Parade or the Festival of Orchestras could only be seen virtually.
Before the pandemic, the only time official events were suspended, but not popular parades, was in 1947, when a plane crash occurred on Carnival Saturday in which several members of Barranquilla society died, among whom was the soccer player Romelio Martinez.
Every year, at the Barranquilla Carnival, they meet more than 2.5 million people, between locals and visitors, which represents about 300,000 million pesos for the city’s economy (about 76 million dollars, currently).
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In Colombia, more than 132,000 people have died from covid-19, out of more than 5.7 million infected.
Recently, it was also known that the parades of the samba schools of the
Carnival of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, scheduled for the end of February, were postponed to April due to the new wave of covid infections.
EFE
