Popular event which attracts thousands is cancelled over coronavirus fears
A popular annual event in Ramsbottom has fallen victim to the coronavirus crisis.
The town’s chocolate festival, which attracts thousands of visitors attracts, has been called off.
The annual event was due to take place in April but organisers have now confirmed it will not be going ahead.
It is the first of many events which are likely to be cancelled in the coming weeks.
The news comes as the whole of Italy has been placed on lockdown and the number of confirmed cases in the UK rose to more than 300.
Five people in the UK have now died after contracting the virus.
The deputy chief medical officer said the UK will see “many thousands of people” contract coronavirus,
Dr Jenny Harries said: “We will have significant numbers in a way which I think the country is not used to so large numbers of the population will become infected but because it’s a naive population, nobody has got antibodies to this virus currently.
“Having said that, 99% of those will almost certainly get better and most people will have a really quite mild disease and will not need to be in hospital and can be managed very safely and appropriately at home.
“The important thing for us is to make sure that we manage those infections and make sure that those individuals who are most affected elderly people, particularly those with chronic underlying conditions, get in touch and get treatment and we support other people in the home environment.”
As the virus has spread airlines have revealed they are operating near empty flights.
Virgin Airlines say most of its flights are empty while Quantas has axed a quarter of its flights.
Organisers of the chocolate festival said they have taken the decision to cancel to “safeguard the wellbeing of visitors, traders and staff”.
The UK is still in the contain phase but officials accept the virus is going to spread in a significant way in the coming weeks.
In a statement shared on social media organisers said: “After careful consideration and contacting Bury Council who in turn contacted Public Health and Health Safety for guidance we, the organisers, have decided that at this time it is sensible to postpone the Chocolate Festival to a later date to be confirmed for business and welfare reasons.
“At present there is not advice from Public Health to cancel or postpone events which are due to take place but the feedback that we have received is that this situation may change in the intervening weeks and that the decision could be made close to when the event was due to take place.
“Cancelling the event at short notice has a huge financial impact for ourselves as organisers with costs exceeding £15,000 which if the event was to not go ahead is obviously a huge loss, with most traders making fresh food again they could also potentially face massive losses.
“We feel that this is too high a business risk for everyone involved in this current climate and particularly given the information that we are reading daily in the press potentially discouraging visitors to the event.
“The festival is a busy and well attended event which has been supported for many years by loyal visitors, we hope that they understand that the decision to postpone has been made to safeguard the wellbeing of visitors, traders and staff and also to alleviate any potential monetary losses should an event be cancelled last minute.
“It is felt it will be a better decision to hold the event at a later date when the current situation has passed.
“Any trader who has applied will have their application held on file for when the new date is arranged. They will then be contacted with an invitation to trade.”
