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Coronavirus

Sapporo Snow Festival to be canceled due to COVID-19

Annual event draws more than 2m a year and has been held uninterrupted since 1950

As coronavirus cases increase, municipal officials are finding it difficult to rationalize holding an event that annually attracts upward of 2 million visitors.

SAPPORO, Japan -- The annual snow festival in Sapporo, Hokkaido's largest city, is expected to be canceled for the first time in its history, due to surging coronavirus transmissions.

Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto told reporters on Thursday that "it may be difficult to set up the venue and hold it."

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