The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has decided to cancel the official New Year countdown event and prayer ceremony planned to be held on the night of December 31 and January 1, 2022 due to concerns over the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

A shopping mall is decorated for Christmas in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 20, 2021. (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)

Deputy Bangkok Governor Kriangyos Sudlabha said the meeting of the subcommittee of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) asked the BMA to cancel all its New Year-related activities city-wide.

The cancellation, he added, is in line with the World Health Organisation’s appeal for the cancellation of New Year festive activities worldwide.

He said all private gatherings already approved by City Hall were still allowed, but urged organisers to follow in the steps of the BMA decision.

On December 23, Thailand recorded 2,940 new cases of COVID-19 and 30 deaths, bringing its total number of infections and deaths since the beginning of the epidemic to 2,202,001 and 21,501, respectively. As of December 22, the nation recorded more than 100 suspected cases of Omicron variant, of which 27 were confirmed.

Source: VNA