Notting Hill Carnival is still going ahead as planned this summer, according to organisers, after rumours circulated that the event had been cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The annual event, which welcomed more than 1m people to west London in 2019, is set to take place over the August bank holiday.
Speculation that the carnival might be cancelled arose yesterday after some mistook a statement from the mas band MaKING Carnival — who said they would not continue planning for Carnival in the face of the virus — as an official statement from the event itself.
However, Notting Hill Carnival organisers later issued a statement clearing up any confusion.
“Lots of misinformation circulating,” read the statement posted on the @NHCarnivalLDN Twitter account. “NHC 2020 is not cancelled. Please be assured we would be the first to tell you if it were.”
Many online questioned the viability of an event that brings so many people together in such close proximity during a pandemic, even if it means missing out on one of the capital’s most popular weekends.
As it stands, the government-enforced lockdown is currently set to run until “at least” May 7, although it is expected that social distancing measures will remain in force for much longer.
If it were to be cancelled due to coronavirus, Notting Hill Carnival would follow in the footsteps of many other major UK events, such as Glastonbury and the Edinburgh Fringe.
