The Christmas market will not be organized this winter in Bucharest due to the coronavirus crisis and the health situation in the capital, general mayor Nicusor Dan said on Thursday, October 29.

"We will not have a Christmas market this winter because we are in an exceptional health situation. Doctors and medical staff are dying, we can't amplify this pandemic," Dan said at local news station B1 TV, News.ro reported.

"I say it with all the responsibility: we, from a sanitary point of view, are on the edge of an abyss in Bucharest. My firm opinion on this subject is that we should not have a Christmas fair this winter," he also said.

However, such events will be organized in the coming years, the mayor assured. He explained that, for the organization of Christmas fairs, the Bucharest City Hall would enter "honest, commercial partnership with private operators." 

"The City Hall will provide the space, they (e.n. the private operators) will pay a rent that can be high or low, we will see what the market will say at that moment, and in turn, they will subcontract, they will pay for cultural events. It's a commercial matter in which the City Hall never pays anything. That's the way we're going to do it," the mayor explained.

Bucharest is in the red scenario, as the city's infection rate went over three per 1,000 inhabitants. The capital also reported a record number of new daily COVID-19 cases on Thursday, October 29 - 1,129. On the same day, Romania recorded 6,481 infections - the highest daily count since the start of the pandemic.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Nicusor Dan)