The grand ball at the Vienna Opera, scheduled for February 24, has been canceled for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus epidemic, the Austrian government announced on Wednesday.
Maintaining it "
would be a bad signal,
" said Ecologist Secretary of State for Culture Andrea Mayer, as Austria gradually emerges from containment from Sunday.
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"
The Opera ball is par excellence the kind of event for which the limitation of contacts is impossible,
" she explained to the Austrian press agency APA.
This ball, which was to be held at the Vienna Opera, is one of the most popular annual social gatherings of the world's political, economic and artistic elites.
Read also Coronavirus: the Vienna Opera Ball canceled, a first since 1991
Launched in 1877, the event usually hosts around 7,000 people.
The entrance ticket costs 315 euros and the rental of a box up to 23,600 euros.
Last year it had already had to be canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
In 1991, it had not taken place because of the Gulf War.
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